


pieces they can't take of us

by TheLadyTeddy



Series: no laughter after heaven closes [4]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Team 7 actually trains, Team 7 is love. Team 7 is life., Team 7 starts to act like a team, tw: rape mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-19
Updated: 2018-02-01
Packaged: 2019-03-06 18:22:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 26,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13416978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLadyTeddy/pseuds/TheLadyTeddy
Summary: Team 7 manages to pull themselves together, slotting themselves to fit, though not neatly and it's filled with potholes and missing parts. But they manage somehow, Kakashi is more than proud and believes them to be more than ready for something harder, more challenging.orTeam 7 trains and bites off more than they can chew.





	1. stomping on a beat

**Author's Note:**

> Training montage! Also, Sakura starts getting useful early on because she was so underpowered in the manga and the anime until the end it was ridiculously unfair. None of that, Sakura is going to be just as strong as her boys and be more than anyone expected.

“You really ought to start treating them like ninja Kakashi,” the woman looks over the missions the team has taken in the last month of their newfound glorified ninja apprenticeship, cat-catching, fence painting, a simple bodyguard mission around the village, each one easier than the last. The other three genin teams had already been sent on missions outside the village, but not Team 7, it was a bit disconcerting, “Even Minato-sensei would be frowning over you still shying from C-rank at this point, you have to take them out into the field if they’re going to learn anything properly.”

“They need to be trained still, I don’t trust them to turn tide on each other in the field yet.”

“Have you thought that maybe giving them a common difficulty might bring them together?”

Team 7 though promising, and damned talented in various places, couldn’t seem to get into sync properly. Either it was Sakura butting against Naruto, Sasuke butting against Sakura for getting on Naruto, Naruto getting on both of them for not treating him seriously, Sasuke getting angry at Naruto for trying to be helpful, friendly, or any combination of the above it meant that they were back to the drawing board when it came to training. He couldn’t get a moment in edgewise to get them to work on anything without trying to tear each other apart.

“Rin, you haven’t seen them.” Kakashi falls against the couch, eyebrows twitching as he looked over scrolls and plans to train the team. Mostly compiled of what was left of Minato-sensei’s training scrolls, and a hodge-podge of what he could collect from various jounin instructors and the library. What a young ninja ought to be learning in times of an edgy peace was much different than being raised in wartime. Leaving Kakashi at a loss of what exactly to do with them, the other teams, 8, 10 and 3 along with the other various genin from the same Academy group didn’t seem to have a problem training and assigning C-ranks to their genin.

“Maybe cause someone refuses to let me observe.”

“You’re the middle of training under Tsunade-sama, you don’t have to time to deal with the brats.”

“An hour?” her grin is cajoling, like that of a cat.

“If Tsunade lets you breathe that long.” Kakashi laughs as the clock chimes and Rin is pulling on the white cloak edged with the green that marks her a medic-nin of the hospital, “See, you can’t even get through a morning with me without getting dragged back to the hospital regardless of your rotation.”

“See you tomorrow morning?”

“Of course.”

Their kiss is fleeting, quiet, and Rin disappears in a swirl of leaves that fall over his scrolls. He looks it over again and decides that maybe trying to teach them something today instead of going for a mission would be best. Gathering three scrolls he leaves for the training ground where Team 7 had been waiting at for the better part of an hour.

***-*-*-*-***

Naruto can’t help but fidget as Sakura settles down next to him against the tree, his flinch so subtle that she barely notices the involuntary movement. For the last month since her apology, he could tell that she was trying to overcome what she thought she knew of him, but was failing, spectacularly. Sasuke meanwhile was singing his eyebrows while he worked on a new fire jutsu his brother Itachi had given him before leaving for some super secret mission for three weeks. Each failure had him cursing before running through his hand signs and making another attempt at the fire jutsu, before is blew up in his face again, and began the process over again. He inched away a little bit, and started rolling up the scroll he was reading as Sakura leaned over his shoulders, her vibrant eyes looking over the scrolls with something akin to curiosity.

“Really, hiding now,” low in his ear, almost a hiss but with none of the venom, but rather a little hurt and confused at why he wasn’t sharing.

“Yeah, I am actually.” he refuses to move, or stand for that matter, as he continues to roll up the scroll and with a push of chakra it seals itself against the nosy kunoichi.

“I thought teams didn’t have secrets.” her voice is almost hurt and Naruto felt his heart tug and stutter in his chest, knowing damn well how that felt, to be left out. But even still Sakura’s fluctuating mood swings with being cordial and kind to being harsh towards him gave him constant whiplash and he had no idea whether or not he could trust her.

“It’s Uzumaki things, you’re not allowed to see it,” and that’s the damn truth, Karin usually kept their scrolls under lock and key in a seriously trapped and sealed up trunk in their living room, but he really wanted to learn this jutsu and it had taken some wheedling and the promise of taking her out to get okonomiyaki and a bottle of that rosebud perfume she liked. It wasn’t that he wasn’t allowed in it, but that they often debated on who would get what jutsu. But luckily with their affinities and fighting styles they often could decide on which ones they wanted. But even still there was just so many jutsu and scrolls that neither of them were going to use or attempt to use.

“Oh, I guess that makes sense. What is it then, a jutsu?” she sounds excited for him, and he couldn’t help but smile and ruffle his fingers through his unruly hair.

“Yeah, I don’t know if I’ll learn it though. The wind release jutsu we have are strong and I can use them, but I don’t know about Suiton.”

“Suiton, that’s rare for Hi no Kuni ninja to use,” Sakura looks at him with a quirked eyebrow.

“My Clan hailed from an island nation, so Water and Wind release are common among our bloodline supposedly. I’m good at Wind release, which rare apparently. Karin can use Doton pretty easily, which is super rare for us, but neither of us has looked at the other types of jutsu we’ve got collected.”

“I always meant to ask where you got all this information from, none of us even knew the Uzumaki was a Clan until Karin showed up.” Sasuke is wiping sweat off his forehead as he approaches them, looking down at the pair, his face looked... fond? Maybe? But Naruto looked away, not wanting to get his hopes up that Sasuke was enjoying his time with them.

“Jiji decided that I ought to learn about my family, he won’t tell me who my parents are, but he gave me a bunch of stuff my Mother apparently collected about our Clan after we got nearly wiped out during the Second Shinobi War.” Naruto leans back against the tree, “She left it all to me, so now I’ve got everything, our history, our genealogy. Karin is really into all of it, she is compiling everything we got on Uzumaki history for the Konoha Library, I’m more interested in the jutsu and weapons and stuff.” Naruto stands to dust himself off, tucking the scroll into the interior pockets of his black jacket. “But I gotta learn the basics right? Not like anyone is gonna help, let alone Kakashi-sensei.”

“He has been really unhelpful with the training thing.” Sakura muses from her seated position under the tree, “I haven’t learned anything new in ages,” ‘ _not like you guys_ ’, goes unsaid. Never had it been more apparent to her that her civilian clan had nothing on shinobi clans, there were no secret techniques, no ninjutsu or taijutsu to master, nothing but the low D and C rank jutsu Konoha library had for the public. Things anyone could get their hands on. Even Naruto had somewhere to turn, something to rely on, what did she have? Two career chunin parents who supported their family with C and B-rank bodyguard missions and owning their own clothing store in the village. “How am I going to be useful in a fight if I don’t have anything to contribute.”

Sasuke and Naruto exchange looks before the pair sigh, they felt bad for their kunoichi teammate, who had at the beginning seemed to be the best in terms of what they had to expect from formal missions, mission reports, textbook perfect explanations and understanding. But as the month drew longer and the pair delved into training without their useless and lazy sensei, it was obvious Sakura was being left behind in the dust. It wouldn’t do.

“Why don’t we go to my place then?” Naruto finds himself offering, “We have a ton of scrolls filled with jutsu. Some of them aren’t exactly Uzumaki exclusive. I can give you... one or two...” his voice trails off, and Sasuke’s saucered eyes are enough to make him fidget.

“Are you serious?” Sasuke hisses at him, disbelief scattered across his words,“You are willing to pass around your Clan secrets so easily? Are you a fool.” the Uchiha rounds on him, backing Naruto into a tree. “Have you no pride, these jutsu are precious to your ancestors, to your people, and you’d give it to someone who treats you as she does,” he sweeps a hand at her, “to a clanless nobody? You are a fucking idiot.”

“Fuck you I can do whatever I’d like with my own shit. What gives Sasuke,” Naruto feels Sasuke fist his hands into the dark thick fabric of his jacket and push him into the tree, his Sharingan activating.

“My father taught me one thing,” the other two flinch at darkness in Sasuke’s voice, “No-one and nothing is more important than your Clan and your Clan secrets. I know you’re an orphan and have no idea what a _real_ family is, but I’m going to tell you right now, that if you are so willy-nilly giving up Clan secrets then you are not worthy of your Clan name.” Sasuke is heaving now, his breath shallow and the tomoe in his eyes are spinning wildly while Naruto lashes back him, knocking away his hands, a snarl forming on his face. Sakura steps between the pair, her hands wrapping around Sasuke’s wrist and pushing back at Naruto’s shoulder, trying to keep them from killing each other. Having accidentally stumbled into one of Sasuke’s no-go zones, infrequent though they were.

Sasuke releases Naruto at her touch and mumbles an apology under his breath. Naruto whirls away and stalks to the other side of the tree, the pair are glaring and huffing, neither sure how to approach the situation at hand. Until  Naruto turns around, and holds out a hand Sakura to carefully takes it, eager to get away from the enraged Uchiha. “You’re right, I have no idea what having a family is like, or a Clan. All I have is Karin, and this spiral on my back,” the white insignia feels heavy on his shoulder blades, weighing him down with some still unknown legacy and strength that he still didn’t know he was worthy of, “but if I can help someone, just a little bit, then it’s worth being not worthy. What use is being powerful, and having a wealth of knowledge if you cannot learn to share? I know what it’s like to be clanless, worthless. I won’t let someone else suffer because of who they were born as.” Naruto turns around to look at Sasuke. “You used to not care if someone was clanless, or did you forget that too, Sasuke?”

The Uchiha turns away and stalks across the training ground, “Fine, give away what precious little you have to your name. I’ll be here, training to make sure that the Uchiha remain respected and strong.” Naruto bites his tongue on telling him that there were only two of them left, only two Uchiha in the entire world, and nothing Sasuke was going to do would bring any of them back. But he kept it deep in his chest, a faint fleeting dark thought to hurt his teammate, even still he couldn’t do it, he wouldn’t hurt Sasuke like that. So looking away he stalks off into the distance, pulling on the kunoichi as Sasuke runs through his kata’s again and again as if trying to forget the deaths that hung around his neck like a noose in the repetition and sweat of training.

“Come on Sakura,” Naruto drags the pink haired girl from the training ground and they take off towards the center of the village, Sakura at her heels, staring at the white spiral that adored the back of his jacket. Her own white circle mocking in its simplicity, in the fact that it was only worn by her father and mother, two unremarkable chunin who decided that they’d take it as a Clan insignia and it meant nothing more than that. There was no weight to it, no strength, intelligence or special assets, a simple white circle. She can’t help but feel low as Naruto leads her through the trees and down the dusty trails. The village watches him with suspicion and looks at her in pity, she watches as the proud arch of his shoulders invert and the white spiral wilts. Tugging her hand from his she speeds up to walk beside him, moving into his side, a sudden protective urge filling her chest at how he stood up for her, spoke for her clanless status. He says nothing as they wind up a set of steps, up and up, until they are equal with the treetops, and he comes to the door adorned with a bright white spiral, and they spill into the apartment. It’s as warm and homey as she remembered from the few times Karin and the girls stopped by here before they went off to do whatever they did while they were in the Academy. The same furniture, faint smell of ink and explosives, the crisp smell of leaves and sap, the mess of kunai and shuriken embedded in the walls, tossed jackets and clothing marked the presence of the Uzumaki’s. Though that scorch mark was definitely not there last time she came, she rose an eyebrow at how large it was.

“Sorry about the mess, Karin was messing around with explosive tags last night,” Naruto makes his way across the apartment shrugging off his black and orange jacket, tossing it over a chair and kicking off his shinobi boots into a corner. He makes a beeline for a trunk that is covered in seal tags, and rigged up with ninja wire and who knows what else, it was wooden with metal crossings and bearings, it looked like there was a rusted portion on the top. “Give me a second yeah?”

“Y-yeah.” Sakura is quiet as she watches Naruto pluck at strings and flashes through hand signs until the trunk opened with a snapping pop and there is a wealth of scrolls and books nestled in it’s velveted confines. He fiddles around before picking out a couple of scrolls and a book, then rigs the whole thing back up again and Sakura flinches as he bits open his thumb and scrawls on the top-- _‘I was wrong, that isn't rusted, its blood.’_ she shudders at the implication of a blood seal.

“Alright,” Naruto sits cross-legged on the table and pushes forward a couple of scrolls, “Two ninjutsu scrolls, the book is a taijutsu kata that neither Karin nor I really like and that one is a genjutsu. They are marked with green, which means they’re supposed to be for genin to chunin at most. Neither of us is genjutsu users, apparently, my Mom stole off of ninja during the Second and Third Shinobi War, so they won’t be native to Konoha and aren’t Uzumaki jutsu. So I figure these will be fine, right?” Naruto flushes under Sakura’s gaze, who looks at the wealth of knowledge he’d just handed to her, her eyes fill with tears. The whole day catching up with her, the argument with Sasuke, the subtle treatment that Naruto received in the village, the simple kindness and generosity he showed her even in the face of her treatment of him. It was just too much, every second she spent grating down on him hit her full force in the visage of him sitting before her offering her help, offering her jutsu, offering her what precious few things his dead mother left him.

So Sakura began to cry, the tears falling down her face, turning her skin a blotchy pink matching her hair, hiccups filling her throat as she began to choke out to a now startled Naruto, “W-wh-why are you doing this for me? I treat you awfully, and I know you know that I try. But it’s just--” Sakura rubs at her cheeks with the heel of her hands and shudders at the implication of what Naruto was doing, he was recognizing her as part of his team, as someone important to him. “I’m sorry, I’ll be better. I promise.”

“Please be better,” Naruto’s voice is light, but there is a weight to it, “we have to work together right? We can’t hold back from each other, we have to trust each other with our backs.”

There is silence, then Sakura stands and rounds the table, falling to her knees and wrapping the blonde up in a tight grasp, “I will be better, I swear.” her fists are tightening on the back of his white t-shirt, eyes still red-rimmed and wet.

Naruto is hesitant in his hug back, but he is warm and solid as they hold each other for a moment before separating with a choked up laugh. “Friends, yeah?” he holds out a fist.

“Friends,” Sakura bumps her fist against his, and there a jolt up her spine at how this felt right, this seemed familiar to her. As if Naruto sitting at her side, the pair working together, was how it was always it was supposed to be. Settling next to him she drags the three scrolls closer to her. “Now let’s look at these shall we?” she roughly wipes her cheeks with her hands and looks at the paper and tentatively smiles at Naruto that seems to strike him a little dumb.

“Yeah, umm, just pump a bit of chakra into them and they’ll open.” Sakura nods and drags the genjutsu towards her, Sasuke for all his Sharingan was not one to use genjutsu in any real capacity except to be proficient in it, his focus on destructive ninjutsu and violent taijutsu. She also didn’t have a choice, she would learn whatever was given to her, and if that was genjutsu then she was going to do it, regardless of what she was good at. “Cloud Watching, the user transfixes the target by manipulating their vision and the weight of their limbs. The target becomes transfixed by the sky allowing an opening to attack in their daze.” Sakura read aloud, “Hand Signs; Tiger, Ox, Snake, Boar, Bird and to meet the target without blinking while casting the jutsu.”

Naruto nods to himself, “What about the other two?” Sakura nods and opens the other two scrolls to find--

“Suiton and Doton techniques, interesting, we were at war with Kiri and Iwa weren’t we when she was alive? She would’ve fought with those ninja before you were born. ”

“Umm... sure?” Naruto looks sheepish and Sakura remembers that Naruto was never the best in history at the Academy, he barely scraped by on the written exams she could remember.

“Doton: Ground Shaking, the user saturates the ground with chakra that shakes the earth and throws the targets off their balance, hand signs; monkey, boar, ram.” Sakura picks up the other one, “Suiton: Water Whip, user draws water from a source and it becomes a manipulative whip the user can use for long-range techniques, hand signs; rat, horse, dragon, snake.”

“Well if this isn’t a nice little study period,” the pair are so invested in the jutsu that they hardly noticed Karin coming into the house, pulling her flaming hair from the uptight ponytail and dropping some groceries on the table. “You’re not giving away our Clan jutsu are you Naruto-kun,” her voice is cooing, “and you aren’t making him are you?”

Sakura burns a little at the accusation but deflates as she realizes that the last month hadn’t painted her in the right light towards the male Uzumaki and that Karin had every right to suspicious of her motives.

“It’s fine Karin, we sorted things out. Our sensei isn’t really teaching us, Sasuke and I got all these awesome jutsu, but Sakura doesn’t really have that...” Karin’s look is a little pitying and Sakura supposes she should feel affronted, but she knew that she was pathetic. “So, there is some stuff that my Mom did put in here that aren’t Uzumaki jutsu, stuff she nicked and looted during the war. Remember?”

“Yeah, I remember.” Karin is putting away various groceries.

“Plus neither of us are genjutsu types.”

“Okay.”

“What’s the harm in giving her the excess of what we got. Nothing that is exclusive to us, and our Clan, stuff that my Mom already stole. It doesn’t technically belong to anyone ya know.” Naruto looked proud of his deductive reasoning, and it’s enough to make Sakura giggle at the excitement all over his tanned face. “So c’mon Karin, don’t tell me that if ‘dashi or Sai were struggling you wouldn’t do anything to help them too. Or Ino?”

Karin seems to struggle with herself, and Sakura has to marvel at the verbal trap Naruto had laid for his cousin that she strolled right into. Alright, maybe the blonde was smarter than he looked or acted for that matter, she could admit that. With a huff, Karin waves a hand.

“Fine, give her a couple of scrolls, but next time warn a girl when you give the enemy our shit.”

“Sakura isn’t an enemy?”

“Oh? Really, so you’re saying how sad you look sometimes isn’t cause of how she treats you,” Karin’s mouth is pulled into a sneer, “you can see how I’d be worried over what you’re letting her do. Walk all over you, or anything.”

“She isn’t--”

“I’m sorry for hurting your kinsman Karin,” Sakura turns on her knees to look up at the effective lady of the house, her piercing grey eyes stare her down and Sakura flinches and the metal in them, “I just... I didn’t understand what I was doing, how much I was hurting him. I’m going to make it up to him, I’ll be the best teammate he’s ever had, I promise.”

“Promise huh?”

“Yes.”

“We take promises very seriously Sakura, it’s part of our Nindo. We keep our word, so if you’re giving me your word that you will treat my cousin with respect then I’ll hold you to it until we die, understand.”

“I understand.”

“Alright, now, ramen or okonomiyaki?”

“What?”

“You heard me.”

“Okonomiyaki...?”

Naruto groans as Karin pulls out a chalkboard from next to the fridge, and with a shit-eating grin adds another tally under the section titled ‘Okonomiyaki’, “Score 8 for the proper food team, looks like you’ve still only got Hinata, Iruka-sensei, and Tadashi on your side.” The girl is crowing now over her cousin, Naruto looks so betrayed that Sakura expects him to drop kick her out the window.

“You people have no taste!”

“Stay for lunch Sakura yeah?”

“As long as you let me help.”

“Of course.”

The girls are off like a shot in the kitchen, completely ignoring his protests and Naruto faintly watches as the pair laugh as if nothing had happened, Karin is throwing carrots and potatoes at him,‘ _Girls are weird_ ’ is all he decides before dodging the knife his cousin threw at his head, ‘ _Too bad Sasuke isn’t here._ ’ is his last thought before Karin beans him in the nose with a rather large mushroom.

“Quit daydreaming! Start cutting vegetables you lazy bastard,” Karin’s voice is sing-song and just this side of scary, so Naruto hops to, carrying the mangled vegetables with him into the kitchen.

***-*-*-*-***

“So where did they go exactly.”

“Naruto’s.”

“Why didn’t you go with them?”

“Didn’t want to.”

“Alright, well then here is a mission for you.”

“Go on.”

“Go to Naruto’s and hang out.”

“What will you give me if I do.”

“I got a nice sword that I think you’d be good with. I think it’s time to start training you three kids for real. Starting tomorrow at 0800.”

“....fine.”

“Have fun!”

***-*-*-*-***

“Naruto get the door.”

“No! You get it!”

“I made lunch goddamnit!”

“Fine, fine, jeez.” Naruto moves from the table and stalks towards their door and rips it open with a huff, there is Sasuke, in all his sulking duck-ass glory, hands shoved into his pockets. “Eh, what’re you doing here?”

“Kakashi came by to train. Said to come hang out with you guys, it was an order. So here I am, to deliver a message that we have training at 0800 tomorrow morning and to hang out for an unspecified amount of time.” his voice is exasperated and monotone in its delivery, but it’s obvious at his scuffing shoes that he is just mildly pleased to be hanging out.

“Well Karin and Sakura are in the living room, Karin brought dango and they’re studying ninjutsu if you wanna join in?”

“Still giving out Clan secrets idiot?”

Sasuke steps into the entryway, toeing off his shoes while Naruto rolls his eyes and drags him into the living room, the ebony pre-teen’s snarky attitude back.

“They aren’t Clan secrets Sasuke,” Karin looks up from the scroll, pushing her glasses up her arched nose with a frown, “Naruto’s Mother gathered intel during the Second and Third War, it looks like she was a bit of looter. She stole a lot of stuff that isn’t Uzumaki only. We’ve got too much honestly.”

Sasuke nodded as he kneels down in the living room, the coffee table now littered with green marked scrolls and books, “My Mom had things like that, she used this one really crazy Raiton jutsu that would electrify a whole battlefield, I saw her do it when she was training Izumi, she stole it from some Kumo nin during the wars.” Sasuke’s voice thickens while speaking his dead kinsman’s name, and the memories of his Mother. Karin looks up at him and nods her head before patting the space next to him, quietly he moves to her side, looking over the various items on the table, some jutsu, interesting seal tags, a couple of sealed weapons.

“Okay but no seriously, Naruto’s Mom had a serious penchant for stealing shit. Like there are capes, belts, scrolls, weapons, literally, anything she could seal away in a scroll was up for grabs.” Karin reaches over to inspect a pair of spiked gloves.

“She must’ve looted the battlefields like crazy back in the day if you guys are willing to part with any of it.” Sasuke not so subtly looks over the description of a Warhammer, the idea of lugging around such a heavy weapon was not appealing but still an interesting find.

Naruto settles down next to Sasuke and offers him a water bottle which he takes with thanks. “I mean it’s not exactly frowned upon, and to the winner goes the spoils I suppose. We covered it in class not to bring any specialty things into the field that other villages could steal.” Naruto has the same scroll from training spread over his knees, eyebrows knitted together as he overlooked it with a serious look of concentration.

“Yeah, so basically I’m a Doton user, which are pretty scarce in Konoha, and since we were at war with Iwa we’ve got loads of scrolls on those, so I lucked out due to Uzumaki-san.” Karin stretches her shoulder before idly pulling down the edge of her shirt from revealing too much skin, “We gave Sakura one, but she’ll need to get Kakashi to give her a nature test. This is more of an introductory couple of jutsu that she can master until she can get further training.” Sakura smiles gratefully over at Karin who nods her head, “Can’t have her on a mission and unable to help, might get Naruto killed, and if you guys come back from a mission without him I will murder you in your sleep,” her smile is pleasant even if it sends shivers down Sasuke’s spine at the dark promise.

“Noted,” Sakura exchanges a nervous glance with her Uchiha teammate.

“What about the idiot over there, what nature type are you?” Sasuke looks searchingly over Naruto who holds up his hands up under the scrutiny.

“Wind nature, at least that’s what we think. I’m really fucking good at those. But most of our Fuuton scrolls are Uzumaki scrolls so we aren’t showing those off at all. I want to try my hand with Raiton, but we don’t have many lightning scrolls, and the ones we do have are marked with red.” Sakura looks at Karin with a quizzical glance, the redhead waves a hand, “It means that it’s really high level and to not attempt until we have some serious training. We’re mostly sticking to the green marked ones at this point.”

“Mostly?” Sasuke questions leaning forward, a greedy sort of shine in his dark eyes that has Karin leaning forward with a foxy grin on her pert face.

“Yeah, mostly, she licks her lips, her teeth flashing just the right way, “but we won’t be divulging Uzumaki Clan skills, are we Naruto-kun?”

“Nope,” his cheery chirp breaks their staring contest.  

“Right well, why don’t we get started working on this Sakura?” Sasuke is itching to train more, and with the chance to learn more from his not-so-useless teammate's things are finally getting interesting. Grabbing the Doton scroll and he points to the window, “Lets go, guys,” striding towards the window he hops onto the tree branch, slipping his hands into his pockets pointedly waiting for his slower teammates Naruto laughs and ruffles Karin’s hair and rushes after him, grabbing his jacket off the back of the couch and flinging himself from the window, Sakura stops to pull on her shoes and lower her head to the bespectacled Uzumaki.

“Thanks for everything Karin.”

“Yeah yeah, remember what I said Haruno,” Karin leans against the couch lazily, “have a good training session with those idiots. I’ll see you around, and remember you’re always welcome to crash here. Same goes to you Sasuke!” she calls back over her shoulder as Sasuke shifts from foot to foot, Sakura laughs at the Uchiha’s constipated look recognizing it as ‘ _I don’t know how to be personable look_ ’, after a month of daily front-and-center contact with the Uchiha it wore on her nerves to realize that the cool, serious, skilled Uchiha was just a serious, skilled and socially-inept Uchiha. If anything, Sasuke’s inability to figure out how to express himself had cooled her off the whole ‘I’m in love with him’ and it only furthered her confusion, because Naruto’s rakish style hadn’t drawn her in either, leaving her wondering what exactly she did like. But as Karin grinned up at her, head tilted back and the sun hitting the sheen of her grey eyes just right she felt her cheeks warm, gathering her scrolls and straight dive bombing out the window.

‘ _No._ ’ is all Sakura could think as the boys followed her with shouts, ‘ _I just haven’t found my type is all, besides Karin is attractive to everyone, not just me. Everyone._ ’ Shaking off the discomfort she slows down to hear the boys bickering behind her, settling into a loping pace they traverse back to the training ground and everything seems just right for a moment.

***-*-*-*-***

“Good morning my cute darlings,” Kakashi is looking over the exhausted trio who are knocked out on the training ground, there is a pile of chip bags and dango under the tree, along with strangely a half-eaten roasted tomato, a still smoking fire pit, and his three genin all under a thick white and black cloak and curled up against each other. Naruto is lying face down on his stomach, arms crossed under his chin, Sakura curls her back up against his right side just under one of his elbows, an ankle tucked under the blonde’s, her head in buried in her curled up arms and brushing against Sasuke’s stomach, who is lying back with his hand curled around a kunai above his head, his other hand inches away from the crown of golden spikes. The trio look exhausted, the ground is scuffed with signs of Doton and Katon jutsu, kunai buried into trees and the edges of Naruto’s hair look scorched.

“Looks to me like they’re getting along just fine Kakashi.” Rin pops a hand on her hip, looking over the three exhausted genin with something akin to exasperated fondness.  

“Eh,” Kakashi toes Naruto who jolts into reality, the movement jostles Sakura who curls up closer to Sasuke, who sits up with all the paranoia of someone who watched their family massacred. His kunai is aimed at Kakashi, and his other hand is covering the back of Sakura’s neck, while Naruto already is forming hand signs for a wind jutsu before the two blink owlishly at seeing their sensei. Sakura mumbles under her breath and the two freeze and wait until Sakura settles back down into her sleep, her hand now fisted into Sasuke’s shirt, and leg now coiled around Naruto’s

“If you wake her up I will personally deliver you to T&I,” Sasuke hisses, as he pats down Sakura’s truly awful bedhead.

“She’s a fucking demon if you wake her up,” Naruto nods sagely from his now prone position on the ground, “I swear she was going to murder me last night.”

“Is that why you guys are sleeping out here?”

“Sorta,” Naruto’s sheepish smile makes Rin giggle from behind Kakashi, “we were training and just fell asleep, when I tried to get them up in the middle of the night Sakura nearly killed me. So we figured we might as well make a campout of it.”

“The cloak?”

“Nicked it off a chunin who came around last night, Sakura’s genjutsu did just the trick.” Naruto rubs at his nose, “He was snooping about and it was the perfect chance to give what she learned a chance.”

“Genjutsu?” Kakashi raises an eyebrow, “Sakura doesn’t know genjutsu.”

“She does now,” Sasuke sighs as he tries to inch his shirt out of Sakura’s death grip, “the idiot decided to give away some jutsu to the clanless, helping the poor or something, but she was effective and is quite good with it.” his voice is a grudging proud, more emotion than than Kakashi thought the Uchiha could muster without his brother around.

“C’mon Sasuke thought you got over that clanless bullshit yesterday, you were itching for some of the stuff Karin pulled out.”

“Hn,” Sasuke snorts and crosses his arms, and the pair freeze as suddenly Sakura’s eyes pop open and they are cowering as Sakura growls into reality.

“Why are you two making. So. Much. Noise.” her eyes open, and she grabs the front of Sasuke’s shirt and tugs him down, nose-to-nose with the now cowering Uchiha,“What did I say last night.” Sasuke begins to stutter in the face of the sleepy kunoichi, it’s almost comical as much as it’s sad.

“Kakashi is here--”

“What did I-- Wait what?” the pinkette turns to find Kakashi smiling down on the trio who are now in a tangled mess of limbs. “Sensei?” the girl drags the cloak up to her chest and begins to try and run her fingers through the tangled mess, attempting to look professional while the boys snicker at her sudden change of personality in the face of an adult. She shots them a dark glance and the pair clam up, Kakashi couldn’t help but grin under his mask at how quickly she was getting the boys wrapped around her fingers, like any good kunoichi of any team.

“Well, now that everyone is awake how about we talk a little more about these jutsu and training huh?” Kakashi watches as the pre-teens all untangle themselves, filled with stutters and blushes as they realize they all slept together, with a girl (or two boys), alone. Rin giggled which brought all three’s wide-eyed attention to the woman who waved them away.

“Settle down,” Kakashi watches as the trio all sit down, Sakura in the middle and the boys on either side, they look tired and could do with a dunk in the nearby river. Perhaps in a bit. “Now, today we are going to start some serious training for you guys. I’ve spent the last month observing your skills and abilities. So Sasuke, as promised I will be teaching you to wield a sword, a short curved blade that will be good for your speed and close combat potential.” Kakashi unseals a weighted and blunted sword and tosses it at the Uchiha who deftly catches it and nods rigidly. “Sakura, I’ve brought Rin Nohara with me,” the woman waves and the three wave back, “she is an accomplished medic-nin who is currently studying under Lady Tsunade herself. Rin was on my genin team during the Third Shinobi War, she has seen things you cannot imagine--”

“Don’t scare her Kakashi,” the woman punches his shoulder lightly and looks at Sakura, “It’s true, I too had to deal with a pair of impertinent boys, in a war no less, who will get themselves into scraps they cannot hope to drag themselves out of. So I will be teaching you how to make sure _both_ your idiots survive to adulthood,” there is a hitch in her voice and Sakura looks at Kakashi who is looking at the ground with a rough gaze, it’s all she needs to know, “since you’re learning genjutsu too I have a couple of really good techniques for those, but if you want further training in that then I suggest going to his brother,” she points at Sasuke, “or Kurenai Yuhi. But I’ll have you at least as a passable medic-nin before your first shot at the Chunin Exams that much is sure.” Sakura gets to her feet and the older woman wraps an arm around her shoulder, it’s warm and familiar and Sakura can’t help but smile shyly up at her.

“Ne! Ne! What about me Kakashi-sensei!” Naruto looks up at Kakashi with bright blue eyes and Kakashi feels a stone drag his stomach down.

“Ahh... I will have you training with chakra control exercises, you need major work with that, so until you’ve mastered Tree and Water walking you won’t be learning anything crazier than that.” Kakashi had to consult the Sandaime about that who agreed that Naruto needed major help in that area. Pumping endless chakra into a ninjutsu was dangerous to both himself and his teammates. It made sense. Even if he didn’t agree totally with it.

“Oh.”

Sakura winces as Naruto deflates before their eyes, scuffing his foot on the ground. The boy nods before standing up and dusting himself off and offers Kakashi a smile. “I’ll get right on that, I don’t need supervision for that do I?”

“I... no Naruto you don’t.”

“Well then I’d best head back home, Karin will be wondering where I wandered off to. Luck guys!” Naruto jogs from the clearing, the back of his jacket mocking both of the adults, and the pair looks back at the genin who are glaring at Kakashi before they look back at their retreating teammates back.  Then Sakura is slipping out from under Rin’s arm and grabbing the back of his jacket. Sasuke is there too, a hand on his shoulder looking up at Kakashi with something akin to disappointment.

“Naruto,” Sasuke starts, “is part of the team. We will train as a team or not at all.” his voice attempt to hold iron in it, but instead it comes out scratchy and rough. Both Naruto and Sakura are looking at him, a little shocked at him turning down training, for Naruto, for his teammate and Kakashi feels an unspecified swell of pride in his chest. Even Sasuke seems to a double take at his own statement but stands there as if nothing was wrong and this was normal.

“Yeah, if you don’t train him, then none of us train.” Sakura’s mouth is set in a firm thin line, chin jutting up as if to mock Kakashi in how much she resembled Obito in his stubborn moments. Rin is running her fingers through her hair, looking to Kakashi for answers before coming to a decision.

“Alright then, how about this then. We’ll all train in water and tree walking, then we’ll all sit and chat about training how does that sound?” her voice is cajoling and Naruto beams at her, at his team and even a little at Kakashi. Sasuke makes some noise that they suppose means that he is okay with that, and Sakura is nodding enthusiastically. “Awesome now,” Rin goes over and grabs Sakura by the back of her shirt and teleports across the field, promptly dropping the pink haired girl into the river, while she stands with ease. Kakashi turns and looks at the boys both of whom make an attempt to make an escape run for it, but he is faster, and quickly both boys are under his arms and next thing they knew they were in the river. Rin and Kakashi leaning over them with grins on their faces.

“Mastering water walking is more difficult that tree walking,” Kakashi hunkers down before the treading teammates, all of them spitting with anger and in Naruto’s case spurting water from his mouth, “If you get this then you’ll be able to tree walk and then I get to start in on all three of you with training.”

“So, first things first, get your hands on the water and push yourselves up. Me and ‘Kashi will be on the shore,” the duo teleport back to the rocky beach and watch as the trio kick and slap at the water trying to focus their chakra neatly on the surface, “also don’t drown!” they are cursing each other out, pushing and generally being nuisances to the fish. All the while Rin sets her and Kakashi for a round of cards, idly keeping a single eye on the trio.

“Get off of me idiot!”

“Sasuke just give me a second to catch my breath.”

“Naruto that is my leg.”

“Ahh sorry, Sakura.”

The trio squabble as they push themselves to get up onto the river’s edge and Rin counts out 30 minutes before Sakura is shakily standing on the water. Rin claps her hands and the soaking wet girl smiles back while the boys continue to blast themselves around the river, their chakra just not sticking to the top of the water. Sasuke manages to pull himself up for a moment, and Kakashi leans forward but then his concentration breaks and he goes down with a yell. Naruto is having the worst luck of it, his chakra going haywire and blasting him all over the river, colliding with rocks and his legs getting tangled with river grass and bits of nonsense in his atrociously long hair that Rin is itching to cut down to a manageable length, but she figures that she’ll pick her battles where she can get them. Sasuke takes a total of an hour and a half before he manages to haul himself onto the water’s edge and is already running through Academy kata’s alongside Sakura, the pair occasionally taking a dip into the water that is still pretty chilly even for June as it’s the snow runoff from the mountains north of Konoha. When Naruto manages to drag half his body out of the water using only his hands Sakura cheers for him while Sasuke’s face breaks out into something that may or may not be a smile. It takes another hour for Naruto to stand without falling straight in, and another hour before he can walk tentatively. By the time he could walk without falling back in the other two are carefully sparring and the sun has already fallen over the training field, Sakura already had consumed a soldier pill to replenish her chakra, Kakashi assures her that through draining her chakra down and letting it refill that her wellspring will grow larger and larger. Kakashi is still watching, giving out pointers and notes on their water walking ability, Rin on the other hand has already torched the fire and gone fishing.

“That’s enough for the day!” the trio are bustled over to the fire, their clothes having dried uncomfortably on their skin, Sasuke and Sakura are sunburnt from the sun’s harsh glare and Naruto’s Uzumaki heritage is showing as his skin tans under the summer sun. Rin is reminded of how Kushina would tan under the rays, and how the older woman would tell her that most of her cousins were much darker than she was and that living in Konoha had paled her skin out quite a bit. The trio eats ferociously, Sakura fighting Naruto over the last trout while Sasuke sneakily bit into it, leaving the other two to start throwing fishbones into his duck-ass hairstyle. The three are bickering, fighting, but are still cuddled up and warm against each other, Sakura happily in the middle of the boys while they made faces at each other.

It isn’t long until she begins to droop, and lies on the ground, draping her legs over Naruto’s outstretched ones, Sasuke moves a little so she is blocked from the wind while he continues his discussion with Kakashi on what type of sword training he’d want. Naruto follows quickly after, lying back, his jacket splayed over Sakura, still mumbling and trying to contribute to the conversation. Sasuke is the last to go to sleep, coiling up on his side, so Sakura head is butted up against his chest. Rin coos at the adorable sight while Kakashi looks away.

“They’re a good team Kakashi.”

“I guess they are.”

***-*-*-*-***

They spent a few more days like that, waking up to a fire, Rin, and Kakashi coming in with eggs and rice, making a campfire breakfast before fast forwarding straight into training. Another day of sparring and mock battles on the water, leading into their skills running through trees and weapons training. Another day of weapons training, Kakashi teaches Sasuke the beginning portions of sword training while Sakura learns about the finer points of a senbon, Naruto spends his time working on his Whirlpool Style taijutsu in conjunction with something just his style.

“You are giving him something like that?” Sasuke scoffs at the simple bluntness of the weapon Naruto was curling his fingers on, “It’s so... strange.”

“Sasuke has a point, I’ve never heard of ninja using something like that to fight with.” Sakura watches as Naruto throws an experimental punch, the force leaving a dent in the wood, the glee on his face turns to pain as his knuckles split open, and Sakura couldn’t help but wince.

“Asuma Sarutobi uses a similar weapon, called trench knives, but those might be a bit advanced and I don’t have much training with them. These however are just to further enhance the close combat range of someone with a style like Naruto.” Kakashi watches as he rolls into another kick, the smack of his foot on the training dummy ringing around the field. “The Whirlpool Style is ever moving, a cyclone of punches, kicks, throws, elbow thrusts and knee kickouts. It’s based around every movement making contact with the opponent, each strike going for the fullest amount of pain, bone breaking and knockouts. It’s not like the Hyuga who use palm strikes and pressure point tactics, or the taijutsu of the Uchiha that rely on speed, throws, weapon manipulation and grappling. It’s meant to be hard, fast, and unrelenting, much like the whirlpools it’s named for. Knuckles are a good augmentation for Naruto,” Kakashi winces as Naruto’s punch breaks straight through the ‘spine’ of the dummy.

“I really loved these things,” the blonde rubbing the gray knuckles against his whiskered cheeks, there is the faintest amount of blood from where the metal had cut into his skin, but callouses and bandages would cure Naruto of those minor injuries in time.

“He’s going to be a monster.” Sasuke whispers as Naruto round onto an unsuspecting stump and begins to wail on it with kicks, spins, and of course punches, “He never tires, he’s always wanting to get right in the middle of a fight.”

“He’s gonna break someone’s jaw with those things,” Sakura observed as he once again splinters the wood, “blocking his punches would still leave some serious pain, can you imagine having to catch one of those on your forearm, it would fracture.”

“I can’t wait for the next mission,” Naruto crows from on top of the stump, his blonde hair a wild untamed mess around his face, “I’m going to really get someone this time.”

It takes pleading, Ichiraku take-out and Rin threatening Naruto with scissors to put the damn knuckles back into his weapons pouch as Kakashi on the third night sits them all down and they eat their food. The three have taken to sleeping in a cuddle pile on the ground have already set up the weakest of tents, the stolen cloak of the chunin is laid over a length of Sasuke’s ninja wire and some cut down sticks making the smallest of tents that only a trio of preteens could be comfortable in. The little popup is close to the fire and Naruto nipped home to grab them some extra t-shirts to sleep in as their actual clothes were drying on the tree, Naruto grabbed an extra for himself as Sasuke had already burned a hole in his single one. While there he’d grabbed an old sleeping pad from his ancient camping gear and set it up for the three to coil up on. Kakashi watches as Sakura sleeps between the two who are reading over scrolls in the dim light of the dying fire.

The impromptu training trip had him answering questions from a very concerned Mebuki Haruno who was demanding to see her daughter, but with Rin’s calm attitude that served her well in crowded hospital rooms had calmed down to hear that there was at least a woman on these training trips. That they were all sleeping separately (a blatant lie) that they were safe (somewhat true) and that her daughter was working very hard (very true).

Honestly, the group was improving in leaps and bounds, the Uchiha picked up the sword as if he was always meant to, while Naruto improved on his chakra control and taijutsu, Sakura was picking up medical jutsu under Rin’s watchful eye, practicing on the tiny hurts the boys had. Both watching in awe as their cuts and bruises healed under cool green light. It was also quite helpful to know that Sakura was working diligently with genjutsu, mastering the Cloud Watching Technique to the point that it took the activation of Sasuke’s Sharingan to realize he was under it during their spar. They were becoming a formidable team, and he could see shades of what the Sandaime was on about when Team 7 worked it was glorious when it failed it was heartbreaking. The last Team 7 after his time had failed within a month of passing, the new trio training under Minato’s last living teammate, taking the team on a trip to the Land of Tea they came under attack by missing-nin. Their genius, a girl with a powerful Suiton bloodline, had attempted to rally her teammates when their sensei was captured. Only to have sensei look on as the three were defeated, captured, tortured, brutally murdered (and in the girl’s case raped) while he slowly suffocated to death unable to help while his summons (useless in battle) watched until he returned to Konoha to tell the Hokage of his Summoner’s fate. The aftermath was grisly, and the sole survivor of the team, a summoning animal named Gao relayed the mission to Hiruzen, how the team couldn’t survive because of their lack of teamwork, because of the ambition of a teammate, because of the foolhardiness of the other, and how it all fell apart.

Kakashi looked as the trio fell back asleep, curled and coiled like a bed of puppies and swore that he wouldn’t let anything like that befall his little team. He couldn’t imagine a fate worse than watching the brutalization and torture of his team, watch Naruto bleed out and beg for mercy, watch proud Sasuke forced to his knees, and what happened to their girl... Kakashi looks as Sakura makes the smallest of wuffling sounds and the boys move closer to her, protective, concerned even in their sleep. He couldn’t imagine what the boys would do, what he would do if something as despicable as that act happened to their lone kunoichi.

No, he had to train them, so nothing like that type of heartbreak would happen to the newest incarnation of Team 7. Rin dozed against his back, and he sat, keeping watch over his new little pack of kids and promised himself that he wouldn’t let a single one of them down, a single one die, a single one suffer the horrific fates that some ninja succumbed to.

The next three days are torturous, Kakashi pushing everyone to their brink until finally at sundown on the seventh day Sakura passes out, and then Sasuke and Naruto go down next, even Naruto’s massive chakra reserves had limits as did his young body. Exchanging a glance with Rin the pair heft the trio up, Sasuke in his arms, Naruto draped over his back, Sakura curled against Rin’s shoulders in a bridal carry and they whoosh off to take the cute little genin home.

Itachi is more than happy to receive his brother, who could use more than simply a dip in a river, he is gentle with his younger brother and Kakashi could see a shade of the lovely boy Itachi was before he was recruited to ANBU. Sakura’s mother is not pleased at the dirty and bruised condition her daughter is in, and stares warily at the blonde whiskered boy draped around Kakashi’s neck, her nose twitching just the slightest before asking Kakashi to get the boys (and himself and somehow Rin) to come over for supper. Kakashi supposes that it’s the opening they need for Sakura’s family to get over the hurdle that is Naruto’s special furry condition. Rin and Kakashi deliver Naruto last, Karin answering the door with an exhausted scowl and those are definitely snake bites on her cheeks (fucking _Anko_ ) before hustling them towards Naruto’s room. He lets the boy slump onto the bed when Karin flips him a key, a silent invitation into the Uzumaki household. Rin is sighing over some tapestries that Kakashi flinches at, the paper depicting Uzushio in all its glory, and he is reminded that these were in Kushina’s office, hanging behind her desk at the Namikaze Household. He wonders if Kushina had the forethought to pack up anything Uzumaki related for Naruto, a morbid but kind thought, and beneficial in the end to her son.

He leaves them all with notes in their pockets to train alone for the next week, and that they’ll meet back at the training grounds before their next mission.

Kakashi is man enough to admit to missing his little team for the next week of blessed quiet and warmth in the safety of his own house with Rin back on hospital rotation and sleeping in for as long as he wanted without the kids fighting over blankets.

***-*-*-*-***

The trio is cursing out each other, as they wait for their sensei, who after an hour strolls into the training camp to find them playing cards on the floor. Naruto is cackling as he swoops up a few coins from Sasuke who is glaring and on his feet pointing at the jinchuriki with a fit of childish anger on his handsome face.

“You are fucking cheating!”

“I’m just that good.” Naruto’s grin is challenging and mischievous, it looks right on his face.

“No, there is no way that you’re this good at cards, you’ve already cleaned Sakura out.” the Uchiha points at Sakura who is desperately checking her pockets for coins, muttering under her breath about getting back at Naruto, at getting her money back.

“C’mon! It’s all friendly, how is it my fault she went all in and lost it all. Gambling is not for the light of heart.” Naruto is preening and his silly toad-purse is looking rather full, and right as Sasuke appears to about to throttle the Uzumaki, Kakashi clears his throat the three are cursing at him about his tardiness. He looks over the three of them, who are looking up at him with excitement in their eyes, by the looks of the training grounds the three had been meeting up to train anyway. The firepit looked to be still in use, and the little hovel under the tree was dug out and there was a little nest of blankets and some spare clothes under some well-trapped ninja wire and seal tags, courtesy of Naruto no doubt, the boy had a mind for trapping and putting together the most devious of deviations for anyone who fell into them.

“Maa calm down, don’t you want to know what we’re doing today?”

“Another stupid cat catching mission?”

“Nope, by order of the Hokage you three are going to be headed out on a Bandit Clearing mission near the border of Suna. You three have orders to destroy and infestation of bandits are robbing the High Road from Suna to Konoha, they’ve killed three people, and raped two women. You lot will be killing them, capturing the leader and making sure that there are no survivors. This is a high-ranked C-class mission, it would be a B-rank but they are no shinobi in their ranks so it should be fairly simple. You have two hours to pack, meet at the Western gates and be sure to tell your loved one’s where you are going. Also, Sasuke, bring your sword, Sakura your med pack. Naruto your knuckles”

“Yes sensei!”

“We’ll get them beat out in a single day, don’t you worry too much sensei!” the ninja crosses his arms across his chest, the orange panelling under his arms making Kakashi’s eyes ache from the simply amount of ugly orange it was, whoever managed to get the boy to wear it as a secondary color deserved a prize. He couldn’t even imagine what the boy would dress in if someone didn’t wrangle him into somewhat appropriate attire.

“If you say so, dismissed. Meet you lot at the gate,” the three laugh as they take off into the trees, bickering and laughing. Kakashi smiles as he decided to go get a few extra supplies for the mission, maybe some little treats for his cute little brats, they were working hard and importantly working together. He’d seen humps but they were completing their hurdles with much stumbling and hurt feelings, but they were completing their hurdles. Kakashi can’t help the smallest of smiles as he teleports to the market, picking out some tomatoes, a can of anmitsu and some miso flavored ramen. It would be a nice surprise for them. As he’s treading through the marketplace he stops into a clothing store and looks around, wondering if he needed any new gloves for his mission. When he spots a little stand in the back, moving closer he finds a set of necklaces, they are simple chains with a strange multicolored set in an iron ring. Fingering them he tests the edge against his kunai, finding that they are made of a strong steel that doesn’t bend under the edge of his weapon.

“Those are rather unpopular you know,” the clerk is leaning forward on his hand, “my old man bought ‘em, though they’d be a fashionable hit with the shinobi. But no-one seems to like them, they are too flashy or something.” the boy points at the one in his hand, “they’re fire opals from far away.”

“How much?”

“For one?”

“Three.” Kakashi pulls out the ones with the longest chains and puts them on the counter, “How much.”

“Ahhh...” the boy rambles off some random number and Kakashi nods before placing a few coins on the counter and exiting the shop, slipping the necklaces into his pack, “Thank you for your patronage Shinobi-san!”

Kakashi makes it to the gate in record time to find the trio standing there and he overlooks his genin. Sasuke in his wide colored blue shirt and white shorts, his new sword is hanging from his side from a blue belt, with his backpack fastened comfortably on his pack. Sakura it seemed had changed from her torn uniform, her apron dress is shorter and there is a med pack hanging from the white belt around her waist, the red is more muted, though everything remains the same as it always did. Naruto is dressed as he always in, black pants with orange knee patches and cuffs, his black short sleeved jacket with similar thick cuffs, the white spiral on his back and his light grey forearm protectors in place, his hair is the same unruly mess pulled back into a low ponytail, he could see why Rin wanted to cut it back. The three looked nervous but Naruto's grin is bright and excited, hopping from foot to foot and the other two seem morr at ease from his exasperating antics. They look like genin on their first mission, shiny clothes and hiate’s, excitement for the outside world, ready to make a name for themselves.

“Ready Team 7?”

“Ready!”

“Not quite,” Kakashi fishes into his pack and holds out three chains and the three are peering up at the necklaces the stones catching the light and creating patterns of color that dance on the ground, “for your first C-rank mission, a gift.” He tosses them at the three and Sakura squeals before draping it over her neck, Sasuke makes a small noise before wrapping it his belt like a charm, his fingers rubbing over the stone. Naruto is all smiles as he hangs it around his neck, it looks just right as he has Sakura fix the length.

“Now we’re ready, let’s go.”

“Yes sensei!”

The trio breaks off into a run, the paths welcome them as they go running past, ready for anything to be flung their way.


	2. fault lines forming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team 7 thinks they've got it all figured out, they do not. Naruto meets a member of his own kind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Underused character alert, also taking a bit of leeway with canon and treaties. This seems like a quiet chapter, don't worry, it's all going to come to a head.

They settle in for the night, the quartet settling around a fire, Naruto took the time to trap a wide perimeter with bells, lightning seal tags, ninja wire and somehow paint, though Kakashi didn’t want to ask why he was storing paint away or where he got the idea for it. The boy was mischievous and if Kakashi hadn’t met Kushina in his youth he’d assume that it was the fox’s influence on his psyche. But nope, it was all the Uzumaki trouble-maker genius that had Kushina’s name put in a place of honor with the Uchiha Police for being such a violent offender of pranks. It had only gotten worse as she got older and was put on forced leave from missions for ‘ _psychological_ ’ and ‘ _mental health_ ’ evaluation as if assassinating families, destroying battalions and murdering people wouldn’t leave scars. There was a reason the higher and more dangerous a ninja was the weirder their pastimes were, to simply cope with the fracturing mental state that came with the job. But even still, Kushina was mischievous before she ever got to the status level of weird that jounin did.

The trio are talking quietly, Naruto teasing them with a deck of cards that Kakashi is absolutely sure is rigged. Tomorrow after three days of fast hard travel through the underbrush and forest of Fire Country and then through the Land of Rivers, they would reach the last destination that the bandits had been found, from there it would just be a matter of tracking them down and destroying their outpost and crew. It was a common enough mission, though a little bloody for a genin team, it was time for the trio to earn their stripes as ninja. As many jobs as there were for bodyguarding, package retrieval, protection assignment, guard duty and other not-quite-bloody ninja jobs most of their jobs consisted of killing, assassination, poisoning, subterfuge, and it was best to bloody a genin team within the first three months of assignment, so that those who couldn’t stomach what was asked of their job could back out and leave. Genin had six months before their contacts with the Hokage were validated and they were put on active forces for the next five years of total service. Most ninja didn’t back out, but there was always a chance that someone couldn’t take driving a kunai into someone’s skull, or burn them alive, or couldn’t stand seeing blood on their hands.

Kakashi knew that it wouldn’t break these kids, Sasuke had seen more blood and dead bodies than a seasoned Jounin in a single night, and Naruto was not one to break easy, while Sakura had an underlining spine hidden beneath her pinks and reds. They were going to be just fine. Kakashi watched as Sasuke fell asleep, on his back, a hand still wrapped around a shuriken while Naruto eagerly worked on splitting leaves like Kakashi asked him too after testing the boy’s chakra nature, all three were promising. Naruto with his strong Fuuton nature type, Sasuke who had a dual Katon and Raiton skill that no doubt came from years of training, and Sakura with her Doton. Kakashi had few Fuuton ninjutsu at his disposal but could help with Sasuke and Sakura’s Raiton and Doton. So he had Sasuke working on running lightning currents on his fingers, Naruto splitting leaves and Sakura molding chakra into stones and sand as they ran through the forest, these exercises would develop their chakra natures and make it much easier for them to master higher level jutsu quickly. Soon Naruto’s lap was covered in leaves and he slept sitting up against the log they used earlier as a bench, while Sakura true to form coiled around her pack, snug and warm beneath a jacket she’d tugged out of her backpack. All of the kids had packed light, something Kakashi appreciated in how quickly they’d forgone the comforts of home, bringing only the necessities.  

Ninja had to learn to deal with rough conditions, fight through pain and sorrow, sleep in the mud and run through freezing winds, swim through freezing currents and climb soaring rock structures. But still, there was no harm in Kakashi laying a spare blanket over Sasuke, or brushing the leaves off of Naruto and carefully angling Sakura’s legs so they wouldn’t ache in the morning. No harm.

Kakashi watches as the sun comes over the horizon, there is an edge of desert heat in the wind that made his nose twitch. Sasuke is the first up, Naruto following while Sakura enjoyed the warmth of her newfound blankets as Naruto and Sasuke had thrown things over the sleeping kunoichi.

“Naruto there is a river 100 meters south of the camp, get us some food. Sasuke I want you to try and relit this fire with only your lightning currents.” the boys are quick to hop into action, Naruto exiting their safe zone at a good clip, a spool of ninja wire in hand, while Sasuke began to focus on the tinder before him.

It's the snap of the fire that gets Sakura up, who blearily sits up, Sasuke’s blanket, her jacket falling around her waist.

“Oh good you’re awake, Naruto is by the river, maybe you can go help him with his catch. Sasuke why don’t you get some more firewood? Once everyone gets back we’ll discuss strategy and tactics.” Kakashi makes a shooing motion towards the two ninjas who take off at an even brisk pace into the woods, Sakura grabbing a hairbrush from her back and as they ventured into the woods, no doubt off to bathe quickly. The trio had spent days together, and though Sasuke and Naruto still blush, stammered and reacted as any twelve-year-old boy would to a girl undressing, it was still a sight better than before when they both fainted when Sakura took a less-than-decent dip into the river after that first day of hard travel. These were things Kakashi often forgot in the years spent in ANBU when he spent weeks and months at times with only his team when they all grew desensitized to skin and bodily functions when all that mattered was that they were breathing and their heart pumped. So Kakashi leaned back, boiling leaves in a small earthen pot to make tea and listens as the children squabble in their too loud voices, and their mouths are still filled with mirth and they are happy. Pouring himself a cup he can’t help but hope that they don’t learn any other life than what they did now, even if it was futile.

The trio come trooping back as the sun continues to rise and the forest casts shadows over their small space. Sasuke has wood gathered in his arms, Naruto carrying a stick with various fish hanging by ninja wire, and Sakura’s hair is pulled back into a braid and she looks freshly washed. They settle in for the morning, cups of tea passed around and the fish is charred over the flames. Grabbing a rock Kakashi pulls from the fire a blackened edge of a stick and begins to draw a map on the stone.

“The thieves were last seen here according to the intel the Hokage passed to me via hawk yesterday,” pointing to the upper river where the rapids were hard to cross, “there is a series of caves and the locals say that the bandits often retreat to this area. I suspect that is where they are hiding. We are going to go in and hit them hard, Naruto I want you to send a group of shadow clones and place large scale traps here, here and here,” Kakashi points to an outcropping of rocks, and two sections that flank the left and right sides of the cave systems, “they would try and escape from here, that way any runners get caught. Sakura I want you to enter in first with me, I taught you Doton: Mud Wall, so your job will be to help me wall them in, then Sasuke and Naruto will go in for a close-quarters fight. Then I want you retreating to a secure area outside and lure as many as you can, I will follow, use your genjutsu to incapacitate them and take them out with distance weapon throws and I’ll assist. Hopefully, we can get the bulk of their forces today, and spend the next few days catching stragglers from their band and killing them. How does that sound?”

“Understood.” the trio chorused back with determined looks on their faces.

“Remember this is a lethal fight, all force necessary, be ready to kill them, no incapacitation unless I tell you to. Got it?”

“Yes sensei.”

“Good now rest up, Naruto send a group of clones in now, and keep them hidden while they trap that place. I want nets, pit traps, tar traps, anything to keep them sealed in one place.”

“Barrier seals okay?”

“Sure.”

“What if they suffocate?” Sakura asks, quirking an eyebrow.

“One less bloody mess to deal with then.” Kakashi’s face is impassive, and the three nod.

“Of course,” using a single hand sign a dozen Naruto’s appear in a veil of smoke, they run off towards the treeline and making their exit. “I’ll be sure to get the job done sensei.”

“Good. Now everyone eat and prepare yourself, we are shinobi and this is our duty to the Hokage and the Village, don’t let me down Team 7.”

“Yes!”

***-*-*-*-***

Setting up traps had become Naruto’s specialty, as all it was were deadly pranks and barriers to trick someone. To undermine their intelligence to fall for the obvious and go barrelling into something they never expected, and ultimately capture or kill the target. Naruto was uncannily good at these, at setting layer upon layer of traps upon each other, each more hidden than the last. His mind worked in such a way that even stumped Karin who found that Naruto was able to see within layers of seals, navigate them, and pinpoint where one ended and the other began, his mind worked through puzzles at a rapid pace and Karin was amazed at how he could come up with an on-the-fly fix, see just right through something. Trapmaking, seals, pranks, they were all mazes and puzzles mixed together to cause havoc.

He loved to cause havoc.

Naruto felt a grin spread on his face as the last Shadow Clone popped out of existence, quicksand seals triggered by a charka that wasn’t any of his teammates set around the perimeter, being sure that they wouldn’t be trapped in his seals. While he wasn’t as good with them as Karin was, he had managed to perfect a few to do on the fly and had several on seal tags and scrolls for use.

“It’s all done Kakashi-sensei, all the traps are in place.” Naruto grinned up at the silver-haired man who leaned down to ruffle his hair.

“Good going, now let’s make our way to their hideout, we’re gonna flush them out and take care of them and head back to Konoha as quickly as possible.” Kakashi looked over the genin with a wry grin, knowing full well that after today they wouldn’t just be a genin, they’d be full-fledged blooded shinobi of Konoha. The trio shouted their readiness and they took off into the trees, Naruto found his footing on the right flank, Sasuke taking up the left, and Sakura being middle back, the four falling into step as they bounced from tree to tree, swiftly and silently through the forest. As they drew closer to their target Naruto felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise and prickle, and his stomach clenched just slightly as nervousness took him over for just a moment. This was it, the true start to his ninja career, and he was going to kill someone, multiple people, and it would be the first time he did his duty to Konoha, to keep people safe. He cautioned a glance towards his teammates, Sasuke’s face was cool and focused but Naruto could see the slightest of sweat around his upper lip, then behind him at Sakura who was clenching her fists over and over again. So Naruto made a hissing noise, and the duo turned to look at him, Sasuke with his eyes flickering asking what he wanted, and Sakura with a quirked eyebrow. Turning around he flashed them both a thumbs up and the pair glared at him, and he knew damn well if they could they’d tackle him and smack him over his head. But it did what he wanted it to do, the line of Sasuke’s shoulder’s relaxing, Sakura’s lips tugged on a smile, so he turned around and caught a single eye, dark and hooded. His sensei smiled at him and they pursued forward, Naruto’s grin was bright, happy that his sensei was happy with him and pressed after him, just a touch faster, just an inkling more, just a little--

“Help! Help!” The scream was loud, it came from a balding older man, dressed in pitiful browns and greens, a scar over his cheek and big potbelly, he had a large ax strapped to his back and it was colored dark brown, Naruto’s nose twitched and he could smell the iron. It was old blood, Kakashi halted them, and they hid among the trees, “Is there anyone here?”

It was true, they were near a well-traveled road through the Land of Rivers, which made sense since the bandits needed to be close to the roads to continue their reign of terror.

“Perhaps a guard? Caught by the bandits?”

“Maybe the caravans finally got wise and hired guards, it would make sense,” Sakura nodded to herself, “after all lots of businesses can’t afford to hire ninja, local bodyguards and sellswords could take care of bandits, though not as quick as us.”

“Hmm.”

Naruto grabbed Sakura’s hand and shook his head, “I don’t think he’s a bodyguard.”

“Explain Naruto,” Kakashi looked to him, his single eye lazy.

“He isn’t dressed as a sellsword, most of them wear leathers and metal armor, and most don’t carry axes. They usually carry swords, spears and daggers, axes are not common.” Naruto leaned forward on the front of his feet, eyes narrowing, “His clothes are too poor as well, sellswords and mercenaries often replicate shinobi to attempt to seem as dangerous as us. He is dressed like a farmworker or a villager, but it’s the blood on his ax. At first glance, it looks like rust, and no sellsword would let his weapon rust, but even still no mercenary would let the blood dry like that.”

“So what are we dealing with here Naruto?” Kakashi looks towards his student who’s mouth was set in a focused line on his warm face.

“He’s a bandit, and someone got to our target before us.” Naruto stood up, “Which means we’re doing to have to capture him alive, and also that someone disabled my traps so they could get to the bandits, and I had no idea of it.” he pouted and crossed his arms across his chest, “Whoever it is they are shinobi.”

“Good, now, change of plans, Sasuke take Sakura down there. Sakura captures him in your genjutsu, Sasuke disarms him. Naruto creates a few clones and scout ahead.”

Sasuke nodded and the kunoichi followed him into the underbrush. While Kakashi looked on he could see the man spacing out quietly, his mouth opening, eyes towards the sky as if he was focused on something. Then a swift movement from the bushes, Sasuke running forward, taking the man down, wrapping ninja wire around him and capturing him with ease though he was three times his size. Kakashi stood as Sakura prowled from the bushes, Sasuke was grinning as the man came too and began to sputter curses. Hearing a poof he watched as three Naruto’s went running through the trees towards where the bandit came from. There was a crack and Sasuke was snarling at the man, while Sakura glared at him, the man was bleeding from the head, “That’s our cue, c’mon Naruto.”

The pair jumped from the trees, joining the other two, Kakashi sauntered forward and crouched by the struggling man, “Hello there bandit-san, now, tell us what happened. If you please.”

“Go fuck yourself Shinobi scum. Are you going to drag you back to your little friend? Fucking killers all of you.”

“Well that isn’t kind, we were called in to stop your kind after all. Raping women, stealing livelihoods, murdering all along the roads. I’d say that you are in the wrong here, I’m just doing my job. I have the right to kill,” Kakashi got a little closer, “But let’s talk a little more, you said it was a shinobi got to you.”

“Fucking kunoichi’s vicious bitches your kind are, all fucking women need to just choke on some--”Sakura with a sweet smile brought her heel on the back of his ankle, the sharp crack covered quickly by a screech from the bandit.

“Oops, sorry, I slipped.” Sasuke’s smiled at the bandit then looked back at Sakura who had put her hands in front of herself, leaning back as if she was a shy schoolgirl and Naruto couldn’t help but snicker.

“A kunoichi huh? Interesting. Tell me more.”

“Why should I?”

“Because if you don’t I’m going to let my genin practice their jutsu on you, and they are very green and honestly they need the practice. Sakura,” Kakashi looked at the pink haired girl, “I wanted to teach you Earthen Burial, he’d be a perfect size to practice on, nee?”

The bandit paled and flinched back, “N-no, wait, if I give you the information you’ll keep me safe right? Deposit me in prison right?”

“Of course, this is a capture mission, not a killing one. They couldn’t afford us killing you lot,” Kakashi waved a hand, “Now, information?”

“Yes, she was a kunoichi, tall, about your age I think. Blonde hair, blue clothes with white clouds on them. She had some crazy blue fire.”

“Blue fire,” Kakashi stood, “now isn’t that interesting. Any idea what she was looking for?”

“Said she was searching for one of us, said one of us was shinobi. That we were just ruses for something bigger and none of it made sense.”

“Well has anyone new joined your group?”

“No!”

“A henge most likely,” Sakura mused, “big chakra pool if they keep it up often.” the pink haired girl hummed to herself, “Probably trying to hide out or infiltrate one of the villages. Land of Rivers is central to Konoha, Suna and Iwa and bandits are easy to kill for any singular skilled chunin even if they are alone.”

“Good deduction Sakura, as for the kunoichi, I think I know exactly who we’re dealing with, and if that’s true we’re going to have to break--”

“Fast moving object, coming in at your six! Just took out all three of my clones,” Naruto’s pointed to the West, “It’s a kunoichi, and she’s pissed. There is something... strange about her.”

“Sasuke, take care of him, and then all three of you scatter!” Sasuke flipped through hand signs for the Great Fireball. “Sorry bandit, can’t have any liabilities,” Kakashi waved a hand, “do it Sasuke.”

The man screamed as he was enveloped in flame, his screams dying off as he succumbs to Sasuke's flames, the genin jumped into the trees and hide among the branches as the jutsu tapers off. Naruto slipped on his knuckles, Sakura pulled a kunai from her pouch, and to her left Sasuke pulled his sword. Kakashi however, stood, almost daring next to the scorched earth and pile of ashes. Then there was a rip from the tree’s, leaves scattering as a woman came onto the road, her pale blonde hair flowing behind her, dressed in dark purple with white clouds on her pants, grey chest armor and a red sash around her waist, her eyes were sharp and the beads wrapping around her forearm tinged just a tad, her black eyes were sharp. Naruto felt his mouth curl, teeth baring and he leaned forward into a crouching position, his brass knuckles brushing the tree branches.

“Hatake Kakashi, the White Wolf of Konoha, what an honor to meet you.” her voice was a purr, dark and beckoning. “I did not expect to see you.”

“Yugito Nii, you are a ways away from Kumo, I was not aware a cat strayed so far from home.”

“And where pray tell is your pack?” the woman sauntered forward, the shine of her nails were strange and made Naruto hunch his back.

“Around, waiting.”

“They need lessons in hiding Hatake, I’m guessing they are your genin team.” Kakashi made a hand sign and the trio jumped behind him, weapons still raised and the trio tried to stare her down, failing in the unflinching manner of the kunoichi before them. However, the woman’s nose wrinkled and her hand went to bat at it as it twitched. “You are playing a dangerous game bringing someone of his status so far from the village.”

Naruto growled and felt a tug in his mind, his chakra bursting as he felt the every present Fox burst into his mind, unwarranted and unwanted in this moment.

‘ _That is the container of Matatabi, the Two-Tails, tread lightly, that fucking cat is as polite as can be but will swipe you with your back turns._ ’ the Fox was like a burn in his mind, as the Fox fought him through the Seal, trying to escape his (their) chained fate. But Naruto was never one to ‘tread lightly’ and he snarled at the Kumo kunoichi. The woman’s eyes alighted on him. “Same would go for you Two.”

“Ahh I see his demon senses mine, did he tell you?” the woman stalked forward, but Kakashi blocked her, with a quick sidestep, his eyes still dull. “Surprising in one so young, Matatabi did not speak to me until I was much older. The Nine is not known for his patience or mercy regarding his holder.”

“Nine?” Sakura looked at Naruto who was clenching his fists, and felt something coming off from him, something rough and harsh, the lines on his cheeks darkening and thickening. “Demon?”

“The Fox is not fond, but he tells me to be wary of you Two.” Naruto jutted his chin, “I don’t like to listen to him.”

“Perhaps that will be your failing, now, Hatake. I would suggest we avoid an international incident. I am willing to inform you of my mission if you inform me of yours.” the woman’s eyes slide right back to Kakashi.

“Perhaps, but ladies first.” Kakashi stared her down and she nodded.

“I suppose it would be in your favor, you are here for a C-rank no doubt, not to get involved in something of this caliber, at least not with genin at your back.”

“Kumo and Konoha are similar in their treatment of genin, it would make sense for her to try and be careful for us,” Sakura whispers between the boys who have unconsciously clustered together behind their sensei, weapons were still drawn, though Naruto was breathing heavily trying to control this force and power coming from his gut. “We have a very tentative peace treaty with them, she wouldn’t want to endanger it, Kumo is known for attempted to steal bloodlines, and they cannot afford a war with Konoha since that bad crop harvest these last two years.”

“Your kunoichi is knowledgeable, I commend you for your team, they are well trained to my eye.” the woman raises her shoulders with a sigh, “We are wasting time. I am here searching for Deidara, formerly of Iwagakure. Perhaps you’ve already heard?”

“He bombed a few subsidiary villages of Kumo a month ago, but no sign of him has been found since. Konoha sent a relief medical team to Kumo to aid as part of our peace treaty.”

“I was sent to track him down, I heard that there were bandits here near Suna and that Deidara is a known associate Sasori of the Red Sand who operates in this region. Deidara is fond of hiding among the masses, someone of his caliber would easily perform a henge and hide out with the bandits until the situation calms down so to speak.” Yugito crossed her arms over her chest, “But he was not among the bandits, I killed each of them and not a single hide or hair of him. Now, what are you here for?”

“To bloody new genin, but it seems as though you took their kills from them and our mission. The Hokage will not be pleased with this Nii,” Kakashi almost sounded upset, and the trio couldn’t help but glare at the woman.

“It’s a simple bandit clearing mission, I apologize for ruining your mission, but I wouldn’t suggest creating an incident over something such as this.” the woman leaned back on her heels, making a murrting sound from the back of her throat, “The Raikage will not be pleased if we come to blows over something so simple as a misunderstanding.”

“I suppose that it isn’t a big deal, but we will be taking credit for their killing, and I will be sure to tell the Hokage that you are searching the minor countries for that terrorist so other Konoha nin won’t be surprised to find a jinchuuriki lurking around our borders.” Kakashi rubbed his hand through his silver hair, “But I suppose no harm no foul, it is only a C-rank, and for you must’ve been a simple exercise, I remember your skill during the last War,” his eye was dark and searching over the Kumo nin who nodded back at him with a lingering air of respect.

“As I remember yours.”

There is silence before Naruto makes an annoying choking sound from the back of his throat and glared at the woman, balling up his fists and stalking closer, evading the grabs of his teammates, “How did you get past my traps!”

“Huh?” the woman looked down, eyebrows drew together.

“My traps! The seals, ninja wire? How?”

“What traps?”

There is silence and the two jonin grow quiet.

“Naruto,” Kakashi pulls out a map and lays it on the ground, “Yugito, where did you find the bandits?” kneeling down the three hunker down while Sasuke and Sakura hover at their backs.

“Here,” pointing to a cluster of cave systems, “they were using this as their bases, it was well fortified, I came from this direction and then attacked.” she pointed towards a more rocky area of the river that ran in front of the caves.

“Naruto...”

“Here, here, here, here and here, are where I based my traps, each are spaced around a space of 100 meters across for a large net, if Yugito came from this direction,” Naruto traced his fingers across the map, through the slippery moss rocks and up into the cave entrances, “then she would have encountered my Gravity Seals and my Two-Point Barrier Seals. I think I set up a few explosives and pitfalls as well,” he began to search his memory, “yeah a pitfall here between two slippery moss covered rocks.”

“I passed such rocks, but I found not pitfalls. That was an intelligent choice for put such a trap, I see that the Fox has perhaps given you his crafty nature. Though I found no such seals, nor any traps,” Yugito stared him down, eyes narrowed in focus “seals are rarely used and if I had encountered one I would’ve made it known. Traps are easy for me to spot as well, I doubt I would’ve been caught by one from a genin.” Kakashi stood and Naruto came to his side, his eyes narrowing.

“My traps are excellent thank you! I am very good at them and I bet that I could catch you,” Naruto was miffed at her, “snotty fucking kitty--” Sakra darted forward and trapped her hand over his mouth, the boy continues to attempt his litany of insults and fails as she grips tighter making him choke a little.

“Sorry Kumo-san, he doesn’t think before he speaks.” the girl smiles up at Yugito while Naruto fumes over the perceived slight to his skills.

“It’s unbecoming for a ninja to be so forward towards a possible enemy ninja,” the woman sniffs, “you ought to learn some control, it will serve you.” Sakura struggles to hold him back, while Sasuke casually comes to his side, his sword still tight in his grip, she looks them over and nods to herself, almost sagely, “You are lucky that your teammates care for you so intensely, it’s quite hopeful to see one of our own with solid bonds.” Naruto feels something in his chest settle, as the woman’s dark eyes catch his own and there is a flicker there, of understanding, of a kindred spirit that went beyond simply holding a demon within them. Naruto wonders if all of their kind were treated as he was. He settles down, Sakura still at his side, puffed up and staring down to kunoichi with suspicion while Sasuke shifts from foot to foot. “You have a good team Hatake.”

“Thank you, but returning to the task at hand, if you came through this area and did not encounter any traps it means simply that someone found them and disabled them, without anyone noticing. You must’ve decimated their forces within minutes I am sure, and it took us 30 minutes to travel from our original spot to here, Naruto set up the traps two hours past, and we’ve only encountered you now. That bandit seemed to be moving quickly before we killed him,” Kakashi pointed to the pile of ashes and Yugito raises an eyebrow, “How quickly can you travel?”

“I came from my original spot to the bandit hideout within twenty minutes, I did not encounter any traps, and destroyed their forces within three minutes. I followed that escaped bandit here, to your team.”

“Meaning that within the last hour or so someone sensed your massive chakra signature, and made a break for it. Disarming the traps in your direction, but since you did not encounter the escapee he made a break in a different direction, and giving them a head start to escape.” Kakashi ran a hand over his face. “I believe your target has evaded you once more Yugito-san.”

“I must continue my search then, if this is the case.” the woman is solemn as she gathered herself together.

“I wish you luck on your hunt of Deidra Yugito-san, I have no doubt that you will be effective. I will ensure to report this to my Hokage when I reach the village.

“See that you do, I will inform the Raikage of our meeting, until next time Hatake,” the woman moves to him, holding out her hand with a small smile.

“Hopefully we remain on the same side of the battlefield.” he took it carefully and nodded as they broke away, neither wishing to remain in close proximity to a jonin of another village, the hackles on their necks raised despite their ally status.

“With hopes, as for you, Nine.” Naruto turns to look at her and the demon container comes close to him, in this light he could see the dark slitted irises, not unlike a cat and she holds out her hand, and he goes to grip it, her fingernails are closer to claws, and they dig lightly into his skin, pinching, itching. “I hope we never meet in battle, I would dislike killing one of our own. I have a feeling my fellow Kumo jinchuuriki would be fond of you, and it would be a shame that neither of you would meet. Remain well Nine, the future is always better than the past.” surging past him, a bare scratch is left on his palms, the slightest of blood welling up as she flows into the tree branches, all grace as the tail of her hair flowing behind her back like a tail as she lands on all fours. “Goodbye Konoha nin.” her voice drifts through the clearing and there is silence in her run into the woods, and for a second all three are jealous of her silence.

The shifty atmosphere around them fades away as the jinchuuriki fades into the darkness of the forest and the four settle down.

“Well done team, Naruto, next time try not to pull a cat’s tail. She is a very powerful kunoichi, and she could have easily killed all three of you, regardless of your similar powers,” Kakashi looms over him, a dark look in his eyes, “Also you have unwittingly revealed yourself to your teammates, we must regroup now, to the river and talk about what we must do.” Kakashi took to the tree and the three followed him, Naruto could feel their stares on his back and couldn’t help but curl in on himself. They were quiet during their movement through the forest before they settled near the river and Kakashi quickly got a fire going while the three sat down on some dragged over logs, Naruto wrapped his arms around his chest as the silence grew among the crackling fire and the surging river water. Kakashi is boiling noodles in a pot, keeping an eye on it while he guts and descales a fish in front of him, the smell of cooking brings them quiet as Naruto attempts to gather his thoughts, attempts to explain what was happening, trying to figure out how to bring it up--

“Nine? Two?” Sakura’s voice broke the silence, her voice quiet but still curious, “What does she mean?”

Naruto clammed up before slipping from the log to the ground, wrapping his arms around his knees and for the first time Sakura notices how small Naruto is, just as short as her, and his slightly baggier clothes made him seem bigger than he was, but tugging his jacket around himself she could see that he was wiry. He seemed even smaller in his silence, and there is a small huff of air falling from his mouth. The way he held himself was not unlike how he did when they walked around the village when they entered shops and he hunched up, small and tried to will people to not look at him. Sakura decided she didn’t like that look on Naruto’s face, at least not around them, not around his team, no around the people who cared for him.

“I am the Nine-Tailed Fox,” the duo’s mouths popped open and Sakura felt her muscles clench tightly in fear, Sasuke has his eyes narrowed but doesn’t move from his position and appears to be cool, “or at least that is what the village believes. My... burden is to be its jailor, seals are a powerful thing, they can warp reality with just a few brush strokes, trap anything, as long as the user can take the chakra drain. Much like a weapon sealed into a scroll, the demon is sealed into me. I am the Nine-Tailed Fox, the Nine-Tailed Fox is me, we are one, we share chakra, and he sees through my eyes, can speak to me, can offer whatever bullshit he thinks is right. But I am in control of him, I can take his chakra, take his power for myself when I am in need of it. That is why the village hates me, because I hold the demon that destroyed our village when we were children, and the Fourth Hokage used me as the scroll. The term is jinchuuriki,” and Naruto smiles up at his teammates, tears in his eyes and a broad smile on his whiskered face, “a ‘ _living sacrifice_ ’, for the village to be protected. He used my body and bound a demon within me, for the sake of saving the village, from my birth to my death I will carry this demon within me and serve the village as it’s weapon.” Naruto stands and turns around, clenching his fists, “I am proud to be the demon container of our village, and one day Konoha will see that I am proud to have been chosen to protect it from the demon inside me.” Naruto’s voice is thick with tears, “But I’m not it, I’m not the demon dattebayo. I’m not. I’m not.”

As he stands, shaking, tears filling his eyes and fists clenching something knocks him to the ground, wrapping around him like a bola and he yelps as a surge of pink covers his vision, then Sasuke is kneeling next to them, a hand reaching out to grasp his shoulder.

“Of course you’re not the demon,” Sasuke sat down as Sakura allowed Naruto to sit up, wiping roughly at her eyes, “you are just an idiot, that’s all. A subpar ninja fool.”

“That’s right, stupid, you’re just Naruto,” Sakura reaches out to grab her hands, “you’re not a demon unless it’s to ramen noodles,” the amusement that bursts from her lips is watery.

“Kakashi-sensei?” Naruto looks up from where his teammates have cornered him on the ground.

“I already knew,” he waves a hand, “and they’re right, I knew the jinchuuriki before you as well Naruto, and believe me, neither of you were demons.” he smiles and crouched down before them. “You are a shinobi of Konoha, and my comrade, my student, you could never be what the villagers believe you to be. Do not worry, Uzumaki Naruto.”

The quartet all settle down, the trio on the ground with Naruto in the middle, Sasuke lounging against the log, their knees brushing, while Sakura threw her legs over Naruto’s and lay back on the ground. They are passing apples back and forth, trying to come to a conclusion of the day.

“Wait, how did you know that woman was a jinchuuriki as well?” Sakura blinks her feverishly green eyes open.

“Hmm? Oh, I could sense it, the demons I think call to each other. They are Tailed Beasts and their connected somehow, the Fox doesn’t talk too much about it. But she carried the Two-Tails, the Cat Demon Matatabi, and I could feel it, her power, it called back to me, and she could tell who I was. I didn’t know which demon she had at all, though she knew who I was off the bat,” Naruto’s eyebrows knitted together in confusion, “she said that Matatabi spoke to her, and she seemed... familiar with the Two-Tails.”

“Is that strange Naruto?”

“I don’t know honestly, the Fox hates me, hates everyone actually, I couldn’t see him want to help anyone. But perhaps the Two-Tails is different,” Naruto leans back on his hands, “her seal may be different as well, maybe Kumo does things differently than we do,” the blonde signs as he lies back against the log, “this was a bummer of a mission, we didn’t get to fight anything.”

“You’ll have plenty of missions where you get to fight something Naruto, though Sasuke did kill that bandit, that was a powerful Katon.” Kakashi looked towards the lounging Uchiha who nodded with just an edge of arrogance around his mouth.

“Itachi is an excellent teacher.” Sasuke almost sounded smug, proud of his esteemed brother and his skills being transferred to him, “However Sakura’s genjutsu was well done, quickly as well,” the pinkette flush and thanked Sasuke from her position on the ground, sitting up with a flush, while Naruto beamed a proud smile at her.

“No, it was just a simple genjutsu,” she waved away the small amount of praise from the Uchiha.

“Maa Sasuke is right, you did an excellent job with that technique, it is a perfect building block for other genjutsu, I’ll be sure to start deeper training for you in that area,” the girl straightens up with excitement, “I am proud of all of you, Naruto your trapping was quick and you used your shadows clones well, though your diplomacy could use some work, and the pair of your jutsu’s were effective. As soon as we get back to Konoha I will ask the Hokage for something more challenging than this type of C-rank, you three need something more challenging. So every get some sleep, we leave at first daylight back to Konoha.” Kakashi looks down at the entwined trio, happy they had found a groove and the pair had seen past Naruto’s burden, finding that deep bond between comrades and sticking beside their partners. The Hokage will be pleased with their conduct and their progression, ‘ _Perhaps the Chunin Exams will be in their future shortly._ ’

“Yes, Sensei!”

*-*-*-*-*

“I certainly didn’t expect you to have an accomplice.”

“Yes well working with partners is always a quick way to get a job done.”

“You both will just have to die then, I see no other path.” flashing through hand signs bright blue flames rushed him, the woman is steady in her confidence, in the strength of her spine.

“So quick kitty-kat, your flames are lovely, but art... is an explosion.” Yugito see’s white and folds herself inward and then it is blank. Only a yowl echoes around the empty riverbed and then there is a cat jumping and escaping the massive cloud of smoke and the new lakebed. The blonde and his accomplice grin as they give chase through the trees. Across the valley the cat demon is running towards her brother, knowing full well that that damned Fox could help her kitten, even if he was a bastard with his own containers.

*-*-*-*-*

Naruto jerks away as he felt something triggered, Kakashi is already on his feet and the duo is running towards the camp perimeter and there trapped within a three-point seal is a bleeding figure, blood coming off her stomach, mouth set in a pained bow and her eyes blown wide and one bleeding.

“I’m invoking the enemy of my enemy clause of the Konoha-Kumo treat Hatake,” the woman hisses from her teeth, “we have a problem on our hands.”

 


	3. constant call to arms

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Art is an explosian. 
> 
> Or
> 
> Hey is that plot niblits I see & I am not great at battle scenes & this is unedited cause honestly this chapter bothers me and I don't wanna look at it anymore.

          “Naruto set up a perimeter with your shadow clones, henge them and if you come into contact with these ninja, attack relentlessly until we get there.” Kakashi’s voice was law and stone, his body a rigid line and his single eye hard. 

The blonde nodded, following his given taak and made a familiar hand seal and around him popped over thirty Naruto’s who took off into the forest, the black of his clothing fading into the night. Moving towards Yugito and Kakashi the genin flashed through a few seals and the Three-Point Trap faded away. “Looks like I did manage to catch you.”

“Hatake when this is done I will kill your genin,” the woman hissed as she attempted to move, blood still falling from her wounds, though it seemed to be healing up, strange blue chakra knitting up the skin and muscles though slowly, Naruto felt his skin pringle with familiarity at the chakra. 

“Maa that is a bad idea, we have a treaty, now let’s get you in our perimeter and you can tell us what happened.” Kakashi leaned down and swept the blonde woman into his arms, bridal style, while she primly glared at him. Naruto half expected her to begin to spit like an upset cat. The jonin jumped into the trees while Naruto reset his trap and took off after him, the smell of Yugito’s blood itched and he couldn’t help but rub at his nose. 

‘ _ I see the cat might’ve lost a life or two _ ,’ the voice reverberated in his head and Naruto scowled at the booming and very unwelcome voice, ‘ _ but I suppose this enemy must be strong to have taken out Matatabi’s container. We must keep on our toes _ .’

“Oh it’s ‘our’ now, what happened to you wanting to tear my bones off my flesh?” Naruto snarked back under his breath, not missing how Kakashi flashed his eyes towards him. 

‘ _ I am not fond of you jailer, but if you die, I die _ .’ the voice boomed around his mind, making him blink rapidly at the force of it, ‘ _ Dying is not on my list of things to do. _ ’

“Oh what is then?”

‘ _ Killing you, fighting my idiot brother, taking a nap without your incessant talking. _ ’ and Naruto couldn’t help but pout.

“I don’t talk that much.”

‘ _ I beg to differ kit, as soon as you could make a noise as a babe you never stopped babbling, it was awful. _ ’

“I didn’t know you--”

‘ _ I’ve been with you all your life kit _ ,’ the fox sighed, and Naruto could imagine him settling his muzzle on his paws, ‘ _ I see and know everything about you _ .  _ I have felt as you felt, seen what you seen, done as you done. Which means I’ve had to deal with everything you have _ .  _ That also entails that I can also help you, today, since I’d rather not die I suppose giving you an iota of my power will be helpful. _ ’

“No!” Kakashi turns around, surprised at the venom in his young student’s voice,“I will not use your power, I will become strong without you!”

“You are a fool young Nine,” the woman calls from Kakashi’s arms, her face impassive, “I suggest you learn to control his power, before he chooses to control you.”

Naruto ground his teeth but before he could build up a retort they were in the clearing, with Sasuke and Sakura having built a small mud wall and the pair eying up their teammates. Sasuke stood, his sword drawn.

“Naruto, what is the hand seals that allow us to enter the window of your house when it’s locked.”

“Dragon, ram, snake, boar, tiger, dragon.”

“Hn, why didn’t either of you wake us?” Sasuke jumps the short wall, sheathing his sword and staring at Kakashi who was holding the still bleeding jinchuuriki, “What’s happened?”

“Yugito found Deidara and he had a friend, they appeared to have taken her by surprise. Yugito is invoking a portion of our peace treaty and asking for medical help and extraction from the situation. So we are going to move quickly and head back to the closest Konoha guard tower and contact the Raikage, this Deidara is as strong as a singular jinchuuriki. This is no mission simple genin could undertake. Sakura can you help speed up Yugito’s healing?” Kakashi dropped behind the mud wall and laid the woman up against it, “Boys get ready for a fight incase they come closer. We won’t be able to move without Yugito at least being able to hold her own for a moment. A three man genin team, injured jinchuuriki and a jounin against an S-Rank missing nin and an unknown attacker is not the best odds, but we’ll simply have to do it. There is no other option.” Kakashi watched as Sakura began to pull up Yugito’s bloody shirt, studying the wound before a flickering green chakra gathered around her palms, and began to slowly draw her chakra around the wounds. Her eyebrows furrowed in concentration as the warm glow of the healing chakra illuminated the fine worry lines on her face. 

“They’re... already healing?” her voice betrayed her astonishment as she continued to pump her medical ninjutsu.

“We get a quick healing factor thanks to our demon girl,” Yugito hissed as her wounds speed up, watching as the blood began to clot and her wound began to knit together, “I should be up to fighting condition shortly.”

“How shortly?” Naruto blinked, “We have incoming at our 10, I have my shadow clones converging on that location, they are fighting. The man, Deidara is blonde yes?”

“Yes, blonde, crazy eyes, teenager.”

“The other man, is a bit older, he’s wearing a strange insignia, it’s... an upside down arrow?”

“Taki?” Kakashi looked at Naruto, waiting more information from the blonde who was focusing in the information his popped clones sent him back.

“There is a scratch through his haite, he’s defected from the village. The man is taller than you, spiky green hair, he is using Katon jutsu...” Naruto blinked, “He just took out all twenty of my shadow clones. They’re moving fast.”

“How fast?”

“Too fast, incoming projection, five minutes.” Naruto winced, “All my clones are gone.” the blonde looks worryingly up at Kakashi whose mouth was set in a grim arch.

“Sakura set up another three mud walls each larger than the last. Naruto rig them with whatever seals you have. Sasuke guard Yugito while she completes her healing. I will take point. Once completed I want you Naruto at second point and make swarms of clones. Sakura and Sasuke at the end, your mid-range jutsu will be focused on our attackers. Go! Move!”

The three fled into action, Sakura creating the three walls as asked, while  Naruto concocted more clones who went running to meet the incoming nin in battle, then pulled from his pouch a dulled kunai and began to dig into the wall, hiding the seal tags into the earthen wall, and bit his tongue a bit as he focused on quickly getting the job done. Sakura took her position next to the Kumo kunoichi who was chewing rapidly on a solider pill, trying to draw more chakra into her system, forcing herself to heal and faintly Naruto wonders how fast he could do it when pressed. Sasuke however was setting up ninja wires with single minded focus, twisting them around the trio until whomever their opponent was would be stalled in the spiderweb for long enough to counter attack. Kakashi however was lifting his headband, revealing a single bloody eye, Naruto couldn’t help but stare at how it looked so much different from Sasuke’s, the tomoe were complete unlike Sasuke’s, as one of his eyes had two tomoe and the other a single one. Naruto took his point at the top of one of the walls, in a crouching position with his knuckles on, his fingers itching to perform a hand seal, to battle with this powerful foe.

“How much farther Naruto?”

“Incoming in two minutes and counting quickly sensei,” Naruto felt three more clones pop, “hot at a minute thirty.

He could hear Sasuke’s breathing, but didn’t dare look back. He could hear the tink of Sakura’s necklace, the chain fluttering lightly against her chest.

“Coming in at a minute.”

Everything was moving slowly, he could feel the air around him, he could feel Yugito’s heartbeat and the shudder on Sakura’s shoulders and the way Sasuke clenched his fingers. Naruto’s senses were heightened, every second coming faster than the one before.

“Thirty seconds, he took out my last clone.”

            Then the explosion rocked the bedrock, and Kakashi was jumping back, flipping up almost naturally to stand next to him. Naruto winced at the memory of being exploded and watched the treeline with bated breath.

“They’re here.”

From the smoking treeline came a pair, one teenager, another closer to Kakashi’s age, both wearing long black cloaks with maniacal grins on their faces. Neither could be described as handsome, both were tall, lean, and looked quite dangerous to the genin, they seemed unperturbed by his traps and clones. Almost bored as they seated themselves on the branches, looking for all the world calm and in control, uncaring that they were entering a fight.

“They’ve given us a little welcome gift, walls,” the blonde man sounded annoyed, yawning, his blue eyes revealed a type of madness that made him bare his teeth, “What do you say we knock them down?” Swifter than expected, the missing nim rushes the wall before Kakashi could give an order, the man laughing as he pulled a kunai from his holster. Naruto growled and pulled up his fists, the knuckles of his melee weapon warmning as the man come for him. Kakashi was being engaged with in a taijutsu battle with the other man but offered him a single worried look before returning to his enemy.

Naruto growled and jumped for the man, clashing with him in midair, using the bronze knuckles to deflect the blade and slam a hit into his stomach. The man made a noise from deep in his chest and Naruto grinned at him, dark and mischievous.

“Fuin: Gravity!” Naruto opened the palm of his hand and flipped backwards, fitting his fingers together to perform a Bird seal, “Earthbound!” The seal on the man’s clothes turned black and he went straight towards the ground. But shucking his cloak was easy and the fabric hit the ground with a dull thud. 

“A user of art, I am surprised a little leaf brat is training in such a fabled and ancient art. Sealing.” The man laughed from the ground, “It’s wonderful, I found my calling through Sealing Tags, the beautiful explosions and destruction. Fleeting, gorgeous, spectacular.” He spoke as if he was in love and Naruto thumbed the edge of his pouch, knowing that he only had a few Seal tags left before he ran out, unlike Karin he couldn’t make perfect seal tags while on the fly he needs focus and quiet to get the loops and calligraphy just right. “Now boy,” his eyes were narrowing “my favorite part of art is seeing everyone’s reactions to it. You would agree wouldn’t you? That art is meant to be shares,” his mouth curved into a dark box teeth flashing, and that’s when Naruto noticed his hand. Forming around something, his  fingers twitching and molding until Naruto had no choice but to flee backwards. The balls of white coming for him as if they were senbon, and they latched onto the wall in front of him. “True art is an explosion.”

Naruto could faintly hear Sakura’s screams as the shrapnel knocked him back against their third wall his head meeting the barricade with a force that had his vision splitting, something sticky and warm was flowing down his neck. He could hear Sasuke asking him if he was alright, and Kakashi’s anger was rolling off him. But Naruto was stunned trying to catch his bearings and breath. The there was a flutter beside him, the smell of rain on the wind, the flutter of a heartbeat, a surge of chakra.

“Sorry I took a moment Nine, sit, deep breathes. You’ll be fine,” Naruto watched as Yugito stepped onto the field, standing in front of him, clothing still torn and blood on her hands. Standing straight and chakra flowing around her body like a coat. He stood carefully, pushing his orange cuffs further up his biceps, he rubbed at the blood dripping down his face, like warpaint and moved to Yugito’s side.

“Fuck that,” Naruto began to flash through Hand Seals, “I don’t need protection.” finishing off on the snake seal he took a deep breath, inhaling deep into his chest, the wind chakra forming within it, spinning like a cyclone, “Fuuton: Air Bullet!” the wind burst from his mouth in spurts striking the man who was forced to dodge the focused air bullets. Wiping his mouth, “You’re not going in there alone Two.”

“You’ve got a fire Nine.”

Naruto grinned through a bloodied mouth, that jutsu still wasn’t perfected, the wind chakra usually slashed up his gums and mouth as it exited, but the Fox healed any trauma quickly, and he was still running at near full capacity due to his massive chakra pool, that was closer to a swamping lake or even an ocean. Clenching his fists he flipped up onto the dredges of the ruined second wall, crouching down, nearly down on all fours and began to focus his chakra into his feet and through his body, a seal tag settled between his fingers. “Fuin: Gravity Featherlight.” his flash step wasn’t any good, his chakra control was poor which was why his ninjutsu was wildly powerful, it was like turning on a hose and unable to stop it quick enough. With the gravity seal to lighten his body negating having to use chakra control through his body he was within a snap second he was across the field, running straight into the fray with a cursing Deidara who was unexpecting just a quick violent attack from his opponents. Making a quick hand seal he released the Seal, the tag disintegrating into his palms and popped up just in front of the blonde missing nin and landed another sharp hit on his jaw, the man however grinned manically and grabbed his neck, holding him up.

“You are something else kid, seals and ninjutsu, what a little powerhouse, too bad you’re gonna die here.” the man pulled him forward, “You would be too dangerous if you grew up anyway, what a waste of potential, should’ve kept hidden like your friends,” his grip on Naruto’s throat tightened, and the blonde began to strike out with kicks, but nothing landed and his vision started going hazy. “Oh didn’t like me mentioning your little friends? Konoha nin are so weak, focusing on your precious bonds. Think they’ll hate me if I kill you? Will you hate me if I kill them. Oh it would hurt, to watch them die while you are helpless and weak, too weak to stop it. You would hate me but you wouldn’t be able to do anything about it cause you’re nothing but an ant, and so are they.” he began to laugh and shook the blonde boy who continued his struggle, the lack of air in his lungs turning his face red and his fists began to hit at the older teen’s forearm. His eyes flickered for a moment and there was the Kumo nin, striking out with a fire encrusted kick her eyebrows drawn with intensity, Deidara dropped him to the ground and genin began to choke and spit, coughing and soothing his throat. The familiar burn of red-hot demonic chakra in his veins already healing the hurts. The two non-Konoha nin began to engage in a taijutsu fight, Yugito however was skilled, fast and was using her taijutsu in conjunction with blue flames around her hands and feet as well as... claws? Naruto retreated back, Sakura calling out to him, her voice filled with fear, and he knew that for the moment that his team needed to come up with a plan to help engage and he ran back, cursing himself for running headlong into situations like his teammates were always telling him not to. He shuddered as he thought of Sakura talking to Karin after this mission, telling her what he did, what sort of situations he was driving head into without a plan. He could hear his cousins screaming at him for his idiocy and somehow that was just as scary as facing down a missing nin. 

Come into their dugout with a knee slide he grinned at Sasuke who made a slightly annoyed “Hn” at how easily he maneuvered around the ninja wire, “Trap making is my thing,” Naruto crowed, attempting to lighten the situation as he settled next to Sakura who was watching the battle with sharp eyes. Privately he always believed Sasuke’s copy eyes were wasted on him when Sakura was easily the quickest mind between the trio, and often the one who could come up with strategic battle plans, while Sasuke moved through the battle creating a plan, and Naruto just went hurling himself through until he (and his team) were the only one standing. Sakura turned back around nodding to herself, her lips moving quickly to herself, muttering under her breath and her eyes still flicking to the battlefield, Sasuke stayed quiet, fiddling with a kunai and watching as Kakashi clashed over and over again with the enemy nin while Yugito and Deidara’s battle was a clash of explosions and flames. 

“The man Kakashi is fighting a Katon user, jonin level but not quite sensei’s, Kakashi will be able to take of him. The real problem is him,” Sakura motioned to who Yugito was fighting, “He has a strange kekkei genkai, he likes to play small tricks in battle, he seems to be a well rounded fighter,” Sakura flickered her eyes to Naruto’s still healing throat, “and he seems to be crazy.”

“I noticed when I was fighting him. He is stronger than he looks, and he’s really fast.” Naruto bit on his lip, “But he’s cocky and only after the Kumo ninja, he doesn’t really care about us, nor is expecting us to jump into the battle. He thinks we’re weak. We can use that, Sakura you can run long distance Doton right?” Naruto was already forming a plan, his jaw setting into a stubborn line over how Deidara had shamed him so quickly in battle, had called him a fool, thrown him around like a sack of potatoes. He didn’t like how his eyes looked towards his teammates, how he whispered that killing him would hurt them. How Deidara would kill his friends, as if it was just a passing thought, something he could do without worrying about any type of revenge or retribution that Naruto could threaten him with, at least not at his current strength. As if he wasn’t strong enough to protect his team. 

“Yes,” Sakura blinked at how serious Naruto was getting, “I can also run genjutsu from here if I’m giving an opening.”

“Sasuke, without my Seal Enchantments, you are faster than me,” the blonde bit down on his pride for a moment as he watched Yugito get flinged into the ground by a rotating back kick, blood trickling from the edge of her mouth. Kakashi took a burning kick to his shoulder, searing into his arm, and his sensei was running through hand seals, so fast his gloved hands were a blur. “Between you and me we can back Yugito up while she fights him, then maybe Sakura could trap him with a genjutsu long enough for us to down him?” Naruto watched as Yugito tore through his arm with her claws, blood spilling all over the ground as the blonde teenager grew angrier every second.

“Lure him in a little closer.” Sakura hummed to herself, pulling her kunai from her pouch and crouching down, in their position the three were huddled, skin brushing and the electricity of their chakra flowing between the trio as battle raged before them. 

“Too dangerous what if he sees you and decided to take you out?” Sasuke scowled and shook his head, “You need someone to guard you. I’ll take midpoint Naruto is all close-range combat I’ll come at him with pinpoint jutsu and if anything happens I’ll be able to halt him for a moment or assist at least.” The genin looked at each other from their fox hole, fire raining hell outside their little den. Naruto nodded while Sakura began to blow through hand seals and slapped her hand over his forehead, the cooling green chakra burned through his veins, soothing away the fire of the Kyuubi’s chakra that burned as much as it helped.

“Get him boys, I’ll cover.” Kneeling close to the ground they watched as Yugito went into mid air with a chakra enhanced jump, and the male genin jumped as Sakura flipped through the hand signs and slapped her hands on the ground, “Doton: Ground Shaking!” Sasuke and Naruto watched as Deidara lost his balance, Yugito took control of the situation to slam him into the ground with both her feet, blood spurting from Deidara’s mouth, a gurgling sound falling from burgundy stained lips. 

“Katon: Phoenix Flower,” Sasuke called as flames peppered around the now fallen Iwa nin, forcing the Iwa nin to move quickly through his injuries across the battlefield. Yugito looked up at them, her clothes scorched and cheeks dusted with dirt and sweat.

“Idiot boys,” her tone was fierce but almost fond, “bringing your friends in on this Nine?”

“Thought you could use the help Two,” Naruto landed above her head and smiled, “didja think I’d let you get all the fun?” Sasuke rolled his eyes before settling a little further back from him, closer to where Sakura was lurking. Deidara was across the field, and began to rummage through a pouch, before pulling out a little pill and popping it into his mouth. It was a strange color from a different soldier pill, a dark green almost rather than black and as he chewed and swallowed his wounds began to smoke. Yugito leaned forward, her teeth barring and her hand went out, a universal hand sign telling the genin to halt in their attack. Sasuke fumed at a non-Konoha nin giving them orders, but he couldn’t keep the shiver off his spine as Deidara cracked his neck and the wounds closed. Naruto growled, soldier pills did not do that, they did not provide a massive healing to ninjas. They provided a massive chakra and stamina boost, but they did not heal.

“Kitty cats have nine lives right?”

Yugito didn’t hazard a response, rather her deadpan face gave away how unimpressed by his joke she was. 

“Cause you are about to use one,” the face of the man began to meld away and white was left. Yugito turned sharply and grabbed the genin by the back of their shirts and hauled them behind the first wall where Sakura was hunkering down just as another bomb went off where the ‘body' was. Sakura shoved her hands into the ground and cast up another mud wall in time to add another layer of protection. “I forgot cats are fast, you should have left the squirts to die Yugito-chan. They’ll just slow you down.” his laughter echoed and Sasuke’s sharingan flickered to life searching for him. 

“Where did he go Sasuke?” Sakura pulled a kunai from her pouch, the clink of metal loud as Yugito stood.

“I’ll face him down alone, he is too strong for just genin.” 

Sasuke kept rotating in circles before his eyes widened, “Treetops on your 3,” he began to run towards the blonde, “Katon: Great Fireball!” The jutsu flooded his mouth and enveloped the ninja who let out a short scream before the explosion rocked the area. Fooled again. Caught mid air in the explosion Sasuke went careening back into the earth wall, Sakura scrambling over it to grab him and pull him into safety, burn marks on his arm and leg and blood pooling in his high collared shirt.

“Sasuke!” Naruto turned to find Sakura healing him.

“He’s fine!” Sakura looked up, the green chakra sickly against her pale skin, “I’ll keep him safe!”

“Then who is going to keep you safe little girl?” From the ground popped the man, who tossed a spider at Sakura who attempted to bat it back. “No one is really safe...”

His laughter faded as Sakura attempted to smash the spider as it scuttled around. All the while Sasuke continued to lose blood, then there he was again. At the Konoha jinchuuriki's side without so much as a whisper, his kick flying out and catching Naruto in the chest, his ribs cracked at the force which he hit the tree. “You should have stayed put while I took this bitch. Now I’ll make sure that you know this is pointless.” Naruto watched in horror as the spider divided into two more and leapt for his genin teammates. Sakura slashing at them, Sasuke immobilized. 

“Art is an explosion.”

Naruto met Sakura’s determined fearful eyes and his mouth formed a scream, ripping from his chest but Sakura smiled, a coy uplifting smile, as if everything was okay. As is his world wasn’t going dark, as if the precious people he could count on one hand weren’t dying before his eyes. As if Sakura wasn’t scared. Then there was nothing but darkness. Nothing but that burn in his veins, the throb of his head, his very being tearing itself apart and painpainpain. Hatehatehate. 

_ ‘Give me your power. Give it to me Fox.’  _ Naruto stood there as the sewage began rising to his chest as the Fox leered down straight at him. His paws folded in front of him, his maw lifting into a grin, malevolent, tempting.

_ ‘Very well then, I shall lend you my power to avenge those weaklings, perhaps you will in time see that this world is horrid and that you shall be happy to be rid of it.’  _ The Fox laughed as it began to pump chakra towards the boy, the demonic energy swarming the genin who began to choke on the power, the rage, the great darkness. _ ‘Avenge them boy and see that there is nothing but darkness in this world.’ _

Naruto’s eyes snapped open, the explosion had finished dying down, the smoke still in the air while Yugito looked at him, her eyes begging him to stop, and telling him that they were gone. Naruto stood shakily and felt it in his chest and began to growl.

“I hate you. I hate you. I hate you. I hate you.” his hair grew thicker, wilder, snapping the band he used to tie it back, the whisker markings deepened darkened and his fingernails that dug into his palms began to grow and thicken as blood poured from his palm. He felt his teeth elongate, his vision sharpened, and there was Deidara, looking at him as if he were a prize, as if he didn’t just kill his teammates, his friends. The ground began to crack as heavy red chakra surrounded his form like a hurricane, wheeling and winding around his body. From across the field Kakashi stopped to stare as the towering inferno of chakra began to form.“I hate you. Ihateyou. IHATEYOU.” his scream was a yowl and then he was running faster than ever, on all fours, animalistic, vengeful. He was in front of Deidara before he expected to be, his hands slashing at the blonde teens leaving curled red lines over his exposed eye. The man went to throw him but there was Yugito to catch the man’s arm and snap it, the woman trying to cover his back. Deidara jumped back, holding his broken arm to his chest, and Naruto hazarded a glance at her covered in blue chakra and her mouth revealing sharpened teeth.

“We’ll avenge them.”

“No, I will.”

He runs at Deidara, on all fours, scouring marks left in the ground as Naruto barrelled towards him, eyes focused and red like a fire. His movements were sharp and animalistic, as Yugito watched, there was pain in his eyes and as he struck another blow on Deidara, there were tears. Kakashi turned back to his opponent who was watching the boy across the battlefield in fear, stunned into silence, at the appearance of the untrained jinchuuriki’s killing intent. Such weakness, Kakashi flared his chakra to make him notice once more that he was still there. Naruto wasn’t the only one with bloodlust on the brain. Kakashi pulled his kunai, and flash stepped across the scorched ground where they had engaged in a ninjutsu battle, each technique more advanced than the last. Kakashi kept his eye awake, catching each movement, each strike, each hand seal until he knew just what the man was doing. Side step left, duck, weave left duck, block, block, strike.

“You’re mine.” Kakashi’s blade found his heart true, the metal slipping in like a knife through butter, and the man sputtered, blood droplet falling from his mouth. “You were unmemorable for such a troublesome fight.” the man spurted blood and Kakashi callously kicked the twitching body away from him and turned his head to where Naruto and Yugito were going head to head with the missing nin. Speeding towards the figure that was still on full defense Kakashi slammed his fist into the man’s lower back, the sharp tingle of his hand told Kakashi that his hand had broken upon the force of his impact. Naruto took it as a freebie to start pummelling away until his fists met a log.

Both Yugito and Kakashi jumped back from the substitution, but Naruto stood, hands sweeping out. “Cowardly bastard come back here.” The burn of his chakra began even Kakashi flinch at the killing intent his student was putting out. “Where did you go!” Naruto screamed into the clearing, “Come back here so I can kill you, rip your flesh off your bones. You killed them, so I’m gonna kill you.” His ferals eyes flickered around the whole of the field, Yugito was grim but let the boy do as he pleased, stopping an angry jinchuuriki was never a good idea. She should know she tore through a three whole Kiri squads where her own teammate died on a mission. This anger, their chakras, the strength of their bonds is what marked a jinchuuriki, it gave them power and tore them apart like any other human, except they weren’t human. They were something else, and that made them dangerous, deadly, devastating. 

Naruto was crying, even though Sakura was harsh at times, even though Sasuke looked down on him called him stupid. They were his teammates, part of his precious people, the small group that he could call friend, that he could even say he loved. They trained together, they slept on his couch and walked through the village. Sakura punched his arm and Sasuke offered him smiles. Sakura curled close to him when they napped and Sasuke leaned against him while they rested. They sharpened their blades and talked quietly of the future, of their annoying sensei, of their families, of their friends, of what they were going to be. They trained dawn until dusk, pushing the very limits of each other’s bodies and their sanities. When did they lean on each other? When did their bond deepen so much that losing them was gouging out a crater in his chest, leaving it a whirling emptiness. It didn’t matter anymore, none of it did, their first mission and he was alone, like he was for so long. Alone, without them, they were taken from him, and this revenge was all that was left. He stood in the open, suicidal against a ninja of Deidara’s caliber, but uncaring for his own safety as long as he could get his hands wrapped around his throat and watch the light escape his eyes. Such bloodlust, it was palpable. 

“Another jinchuuriki, I should be honored to have found another. You fools fetch a heavy price between villages who would exact your demon for themselves. Kiri would be pleased for a fox or a cat.”

“Is that why you attacked Kumo?” Yugito snarled the lean lines of her face feral and unforgiving, “To draw one of us out?”

“Of course, what reason would I have to attack a lone power, my employer has put out a serious headhunt for jinchuuriki and kekkei genkai. Now look here, I’ve got two jinchuuriki and a Sharingan all neat like a bow.” He was slimy and Naruto felt a chill go up his spine as Deidara regarded the trio, as if they were simply fruits at market, not people with loved ones, hopes, friends and dreams.

He hated that, he hated people like him, people who destroyed because they wanted to, for no reason, with no remorse, with no care. Naruto couldn’t help but let out a feral roar and leapt for his throat, and before Kakashi could even think to attempt to warn him of the ex-Iwa’s movement Naruto saw the tiny spiders exploding on his skin, leaving craters of wounds and blood pouring down his arms and legs. He could feel the blood flowing over his skin, as wounds healed under the heat of the Kyuubi’s chakra, as the carved flesh knitted itself together and Naruro was still howling, blood stains on his exposed arms and ripped jacket, blood falling down his face like warpaint and he on the warpath. Deidara met him in battle, his hand going to his throat and slamming him into the ground, a crack forming in the ground and Yugito is there, grabbing the Iwa nin and throwing him across the field, Kakashi is standing over him, lightning forming around his hand as he rushes the downed teen. But Naruto cannot stop crying, cannot stop the _ buh-dam-thump-tic _ of his heart that is bleeding for his fallen teammates and he sit up, his throat already healing, kneeling in the cracked earth, tears falling into his clawed open palms as Kaka-sensei and Yugito rain hell onto the Iwa nin who is growing desperate, who is throwing bombs and scouring the field with craters. Naruto gets to his feet, his spiky hair falling around his shoulders swinging behind him like a tail. 

“Sasuke, Sakura.” He calls for them, his voice wavering in the din of battle as their faces flash behind his eyes as he roughly rubs his tears away, blood streaking under his still red slitted eyes, “This is for you.” Then he takes off into the battle, howling from deep in his chest he joins the fray, and slowly more chakra leeks from his body as the Fox howls in victory. His body is covered in the red power, a tail forming from his mid-back, swaying and swinging while he hassles Deidara into the center if the field, his back to a half-fallen wall, Yugito above him looking for all the world a cat about to catch a rat, Kakashi to his right chidori in hand and a dead look in his mismatched eyes, and Naruto with his tailed cloak swaying and his mouth filled with blood from his teeth and screams tearing apart his throat and lips. The Konoha nin advance forward, Naruto single minded in killing him when a hand bursts from the ground and drags the Iwa nin deep. From the other side of him, to his left a bit of the fallen wall fades with a swirl and a blue and red colored body bursts forward, not as fast as he usually would, obviously injured and weakened.

“Doton: Headhunter.” her voice is a whisper as she pops from the ground, standing on her two legs, swaying as the chakra exhaustion filled her body. 

Then Sasuke is there, swaying and holding a grey eyed Sakura up as they both sway onto the unforgiving ground and Naruto’s world comes grinding to a stop as Kakashi runs his chidori through the head of Deidara. Only to have a laugh echoing around the feild and a chakra signature escaping as the body poofed into a shadow clone. Sakura smiles and it’s wan but she is real and there, Sasuke is kneeling coughing up blood. Naruto is sprinting, uncaring for how Kakashi and Yugito run to track the terrorist, his feet as heavy as he makes his way through the pockmarked valley that the clearing has become. The chakra fades, his eyes return to blue, his hair falls around his shoulders, his whiskers lighten and he is heavy. He knee slides into them, knocking them over, Sakura wedged firmly between the boys slipping into unconsciousness, Sasuke wrapping his arms around Sakura’s middle and Naruto’s shoulders while Naruto buries his face into Sakura’s stomach his tears soaking her shirt, clawed hands digging into their dusty clothes tearing at fabric to reach their skin. They are there, they are real, he can feel their blood pumping under his hands as they run though Sakura’s hair and down Sasuke’s biceps. Naruto could feel the slow beat of Sakura’s heart and the pant of Sasuke’s breath in his ear from his overworked body, the explosion having caused some damage, and there are chakra burns all over Sakura’s arms and hands. 

They cry, quietly as Sakura’s body sleeps and heals from the exhaustion of so many techniques, her shallow chakra reserves scraping bottom and the boys are content to huddle around her, to protect each other and wait as the battle finishes and the jonin return. 

Kakashi finds them tangled up, and kneels down, his hands running through Naruto’s hair as he looked up at him, his fingers still faintly clawed and pupils still slits, the Kyuubi chakra coursing through his chakra veins as he refuses to leave the side of his teammates. Leave them unguarded.

“You did good, rest,” Kakashi watches as his student’s shocking blue eyes close, before curling tightly around his teammates,. Kakashi settles down next to them his fingers occasionally lacing through Naruto’s hair, wiping blood for Sasuke’s cheek or moving Sakura’s wayward limbs. He builds a small fire and waits for them to return from the land of sleep. Yugito pops next to him, a wild boar over her shoulder, blood falling into a small puddle around her feet.

“They will be dangerous when they get older.”

Kakashi says nothing and watched as Yugito sits down on a fallen bit of wall, a kunai expertly skinning the animal and began to roast the boar, he noted the way Naruto’s nose twitched at the scent. Not for the first time he wondered how the Fox had changed Naruto’s perception of the world, his senses, how much influence the Kyuubi had on the Uzumaki. They stayed quiet as slowly Sasuke woke up, his wounds having been no doubt patched by Sakura while they hid after the devastating attack that loosened the Seal on his blonde charge.

“Sasuke, here,” Kakashi held out a stick with a chunk of roasted meat on the tip, “gather your strength and tell me what happened later, just rest and eat,.” The boy tore through the meat as if he was starving. Naruto was the next up, his body healed and shoulder brushing against Sasuke, almost too close for the Uchiha if it hadn’t been for the fact that he was nearly killed. So the Uchiha bore the physical touch as they both ate and then quickly fell back asleep, Sakura coiled between them, chakra exhaustion being her real issue rather than injury. Kakashi looked over them, his little genin, sleeping under the watchful eyes of their Jonin and the Kumo nin.

***-*-*-*-***

“Taijutsu, the fundamental art of hand-to-hand combat for ninja,” the three injured and still exhausted genin were splayed out on the ground before their jonin and the Kumo nin. “Genjutsu the fundamental art of reality warping. Ninjutsu the fundamental art of ninja techniques. These three you will master should you hope to survive past your genin years and become chunin.” Kakashi hunkered down next to him, “This mission became a shitshow beyond compare, but all three of you survived because of your skill in Taijutsu,” Naruto raised his head, “Ninjutsu,” Sasuke lifted his chin, “and Genjutsu,” an exhausted Sakura smiled up at him. “You are beyond ready for the Chunin Exams.”

“I also have no doubt you three will do well in the exams, we will be sending our own contingent from Kumo as well to compete.” Yugito piped up from her place on a log, “I am impressed, especially by her subtle genjutsu, none of us saw through it.” The Kumo nin looked down at Sakura who flushed, “Casting a field wide Eye Twin genjutsu requires precise chakra control, then to use the explosion to pull yourself underground to heal your teammate and pursue a sneak attack.” 

“Naruto said something during the battle that traps were his thing,” the blonde ninja grinned, “and I remembered all of Naruto’s traps are like his pranks. Genjutsu is nothing but pranking your opponent so I devised a plan to trick everyone on the field incase things went South.”

“I saw through the jutsu with my Sharingan,” Sasuke continued, “when I got injured Sakura put the jutsu into effect and we did a real life body switch while the genjutsu was in place, making it seem like we were actually moving, then when Deidara attempted to kill us it was an illusion.”

Yugito whistled, “That was quite the plan.”

“I didn’t think Naruto would...” Sakura trailed off, looking at Naruto who cast his eyes away and drew his knees up to his chest, his hair covering the edges of his dark eyes.

“Lose it, you didn't think I’d lose it like that.” 

“What happened Naruto? I thought the demon was contained?” Sakura’s question made Naruto flinch, and immediately Sakura moved to lean against him, her weight warm and comforting.

“I th-thought you, and Sasuke were dead,” his voice is small, and it seems to quiver in the air around them. “I decided that if he killed you,” Naruto looks up to meet Sasuke’s dark eyes and there is a solidarity between them, a bloodlust they both found inside themselves when faced with death, “if he killed you, he was going to die.” Naruto’s fingernails dug into his palms until blood welled up, “I went to the Fox for power, for his chakra, so that I could kill Deidara.”

“Naruto...” Sakura wraps her arms around his shoulders as he stiffens and stares right at Kakashi.

“I would do it again. This Fox is taking residence in my body, then his power is my power, and if I can’t protect my precious people with it, then I’ll avenge them with it.” Naruto stands up sharply to look at uis teammates, “Don’t you dare do that again, I thought you were dead, I looked you in your eyes Sakura when the blast came,” the kunoichi looks up at him as tears well up in stormy blue eyes, “or the illusion’s eyes and I thought this was going to be the last time I’d ever see you two. So don’t do that again.” 

Sasuke stood suddenly, glaring at Naruto, “We are ninja, not house pets, asking us not to put our lives down for a mission, in a battle, to not be what we are trained to be is ridiculous.” the dark haired boy slowly works himself up into a rage, “Don’t ask to not protect you either! We may not have a demon sealed into our stomach but don’t act like you dying wouldn’t hurt us too.” Sakura is between her boys, her skin pale at the quick movement her hands on both their chests, their hearts beating quickly and damn near in sync as she tries to cool their uneven breathes and the edge of panic that seeped from their skin. Kakashi looks at the team wide eyed as they bend and pull towards each other, crashing and ebbing as they try to find some equal ground between the three of them. 

“Stop fighting, Naruto I know you were scared and grieving but we are alive because we are strong,” Sasuke nodded, “brave,” Naruto bit down on his lip, “and smart,” the boys offer her small proud looks, “we survived, that’s what mattered and we’ll only get stronger.”

“Yes you will, we are going to up your training by half, hell double it, triple it when we get back to Konoha.” Kakashi stands behind Sakura who grows weaker by the second, “You three are ninja now,” the trio look up at him, “it’s time you start seriously start training as ninja. I will have you three whipped into serious fighting shape, and you will be grateful. We lost this battle,” Yugito hissed under her breath at how they lost Deidara and he managed to escape, “but one battle does not a war make. My adorable subordinates, I will have you three winning  _ wars _ .” There is a dark promise in his eyes, and the trio feel the air electrify at it. 

“Yes sensei,” the three chorus as they sit down, the tension having been cut as they return to huddling together.

Naruto watches as Yugito leans over to speak to Kakashi, as Sakura dozes under their shared blanket and Sasuke sharpens his kunai, eyes flickering redblackredblack in the darkness. The Kumo nin looks back at him and Kakashi nods.

“You three need to sleep,” their sensei makes a shooing motion, “off to dreamland, let the adults keep watch.” Sakura takes no time to curl up under the blankets softly wuffling in her exhaustion. Sasuke follows, his back to Sakura and a kunai resting in his palm. Naruto mirrors Sasuke, but links his ankle around the kunoichi’s, unable to forget the startling green of her eyes before he thought she was blasted to pieces, both of them. It’s enough to make him shudder. With the unease and the comfort his teammates brought him the Uzumaki fell into a fitful sleep, Kakashi watching dutifully.

***-*-*-*-***

“Nine come here for a moment,” the Kumo kunoichi had been travelling with them for a few days as they made slow progress to the Fire border. The Matatabi container planning to break off from the group and head North home to report her status and the threat of Deidara, while Kakashi was anxious to get his genin within the safe walls of Konoha. But they kept the pace slow for wounds and exhaustion the genin suffered. So Yugito stayed as an extra precaution, the least she could do for flipping their mission upside down and drowned it. 

“Yugito-san?” Naruto wandering away from where he was speaking with Sakura about the finer points of Sealing, the bookish ninja interested in its various battle uses. 

“Walk with me a moment, I wish to speak about the Fox,” they hung back from the group a bit, keeping pace with each other, Yugito’s eyes firmly on the horizon and Naruto’s hands slipped into his the pockets of his black pants. “Like any muscle one must work it, break it, and heal it until it becomes stronger. The chakra of a demon is similar we have a tolerance for it due to its entrance into our bodies, but it is not natural. We must build a resistance to it. The demon chakra is a double-edged sword and works to harm as much as help you. The more you use it’s power the more susceptible you are to your demon’s will.” Yugito frowned and looked at the young jinchuuriki, who was biting his lip, “You have questions.”

“You use the Two-Tails all the time and it doesn't bother you? Why am I different?”

“You are young, I am old. You are fresh, I am experienced. My demon and I settled on a working relationship long ago. It is possible to work with the demon, as myself and the other jinchuuriki of my village have. Perhaps I ought not to tell you this, but for us demon containers things are different, there are nine of us, we harbor chakra entities beyond human comparison. We all are aware of the hatred harbored towards us, for the feelings towards a jinchuuriki are the same across Nation borders and village ties.” The kunoichi stops and lifts a hand, placing it on his wild spikes, “I understand that pain, all jinchuuriki do, it is what makes us strong. It is what makes us human. Which is why I will aide you, I am loyal to Kumo as you are loyal to Konoha, and one day we may clash in battle, but until that day Nine we shall remain as comrades of pain, much as we are connected to the other 7.” Yugito pulled from her pouch a scroll, “This contains exercises for you to learn control, mediation, mind strengthening, chakra exercises. Speak with the Fox, you may never love or trust him, but you are both bound through that seal. Just as I am bound to Matatabi, and the other 7 are bound to their demons. There are only 9 of us, and in some ways we must aid each other. Do you understand?”

Naruto gulps at the flint in her eyes as she holds the scroll out to him. This scroll thay could hold the secrets to becoming allies with the demon held within and he nods. “Yes Yugito-san I understand.” He carefully takes the scroll and slips it into his pouch, “I hope that we can be friends Yugito-nee? Even if you’re Kumo...”

The woman narrows her eyes and glares at him, “Friendship is hard to maintain when we are ninja from opposing villages.”

“Kumo and Konoha are allies,” Naruto continued cheerfully looking up at her with a small smile, “which means we can be friends Yugito-nee besides,” he patted his pouch, “you are teaching me.”

The woman sighed before nodding, “You are strange Nine, not unlike our brother,” the word tasted warm in her mouth, comforting, “my companion Eight is like you. Should our villages ever meet as allies I would ask you come meet him.”

“I would love that.”

“You’d probably like him more, he is much better with kids,” she muttered queitlt but Naruto caught it and shook his bright hair the spiked edges flaring around his shoulders. 

“I think I’ll still like you best Yugito-nee, come visit Konoha sometime.”

“Message me, with a hawk,” the offer is oddly quick, “I will answer, this needs not be the last we meet or speak.” She doesn’t expect a blinding smile and his excitement she doesn’t expect him immediately tottering after his sensei asking about international messenger hawks. She doesn’t expect the warmth in her chest and faintly wonders what B would make of the young ‘brother', but she can’t help hoping that he keeps in touch. As they part ways and he gives her a watery smile and she ruffles his hair, she can’t help but care in the smallest of ways as she runs off into the treetops.

‘ _ My brother has a good one holding him, just as I do Yugito-san. _ ’ The voice is soft like a purr in her mind, warm and comforting, an everlasting comfort. 

“You flatter me Matatabi-sama, but you are right, he is a good boy.”

‘ _ Perhaps he can break the cycle with my brother’s containers, Lord Sage is aware of my eldest brother’s troubles. I hope he guides him and his kit well. _ ’

“Your hope is odd to me Matatabi-sama.”

‘ _ Other than you it is all I have. _ ’ The bakeneko fades from her mind, settling back into its seal containment and Yugito wonders just what the cat demon is hoping for, but she would debate that later, for now she must return to the Raikage and deliver the news on Deidara, and maybe look into a genin team. 

*-*-*-*-*

“As soon as we get back we’re going to double up on training, we’re going to take a week or so to recuperate from this mission, then we’re going headfirst back in, clear?” Kakashi picked up the pace a little as they crossed the Fire Country border, having already said their goodbyes to Yugito who was going to relay her information back to the Raikage, perhaps Kumo would make a large showing this year at the Chunin Exams, he hoped so he rather liked the finicky Kumo nin. Watching as his students took the trail home he wondered, not for the first or last time, if the Sandaime had any idea what sort of monster team he’d concocted.

The warhound in his chest was excited. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> School has begun, my writing has dipped, I will eventually not suck with battle scenes.


End file.
